When Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez gave a speech condemning the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro, she was accompanied by two men who can make or break the regime’s future.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino command Venezuela’s police and military, the forces that kept Maduro in power for more than a decade with deadly crackdowns on dissent.
Trump said Rodríguez is the de facto leader of Venezuela. She is someone who despite her anti-U.S. rhetoric has privately assured Washington that she will do its bidding with Maduro facing prison, Trump said on Saturday.
But Cabello and Padrino “could very easily take action against her and sideline her immediately,” said Brian Naranjo, a former senior U.S. diplomat who served in Venezuela.
“Those are the two guys who control Venezuela right now,” Naranjo said. “These are the guys who command people with guns.”