Delcy Rodriguez replaces Venezuela’s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino
Al Jazeera
General Vladimir Padrino spent 11 years as the country’s defence minister, acting as a key ally of Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez has announced that she is replacing the country’s longtime defence minister, General Vladimir Padrino, a central figure from the administration of former President Nicolas Maduro.
Rodriguez announced the high-level departure in a post on Wednesday on the social media platform Telegram.
“We thank Vladimir Padrino Lopez for his loyalty to the homeland and for having been, for all of these years, the first soldier in the defence of our country,” Rodriguez said.
She added that Padrino would be given unspecified “new responsibilities”. No explanation was given for the change.
Padrino’s departure is the latest cabinet-level shake-up in the Venezuelan government since January 3, when the United States launched a military operation to abduct Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
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