With eleven years as Minister of Defense and additional eleven years of service beyond the date on which he had to withdraw, on July 5, 2014, Chief General Vladimir Padrino López is caught in a position that bothers many, including his relatives.
With a reward of 15 million dollars on his head, which validates his nickname of “Guachimán de los Narcos”, his permanence is a multidimensional problem for Nicolás Maduro, the tyrant that the vast majority of the fan (b*) abhor.
Padrino López knows too much. From early on, it was part of the vagabunderías of a revolution that used the military to destroy, oppress and commit crimes. In Barinas, it is said, it became involved in the drug trafficking business that flourished there under the protection of the neo -Cavez Frías bosses. That look the other way as they entered and left cargoes daily won the nickname and all the following promotions. (Note: of this and more are giving faithful testimony in the US the general Clíver Alcalá Lords and Hugo Carvajal Barrios).
In 2015, to prevent Cilia Flores from placing his partner Nestor Reverol as Minister of Defense, Padrino López negotiated with the United States. In exchange for enforcing the rules in the parliamentary elections, especially the closing time of the centers, Washington revealed the existence of accusations sealed against generals Reverol and Molina, key pieces of the National Guard cartel with Flores, Maduro and El Aissami, whose head of operations had been Walid Makled.
That filtration buried the aspirations of the “first fighter” of controlling the armed force with a man from his cartel. But months later, when Washington decided to make the accusations public, the regime immediately reacted: in less than an hour, Reverol was appointed Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace. A cynical play that made it clear who commands and how the poster is shielded in power.
How did God survive a play that allowed the opposition to conquer the National Assembly by stopping the fraud that was manufactured by extending the voting schedule? Impunity is due to the Russians. Rosoboronexport, the state company that monopolizes the sale of weapons, was fed up that in Venezuela it would rotate ministers every year, which complicated businesses and “accommodations”. They demanded Maduro that godfather, with a good look, would not rotate. Thus, it was, in addition, the general and his triggers set up a lucrative scheme by moving bad funds to military to Russian banks. Spicy thus ended at the service of their Lenin and Putin tocayos.
Not even that prevented him from tending bridges again with Washington. He negotiated with the White House around the clumsy operation of April 30, 2019. Together with Raúl Gorrín and Maikel Moreno, he spoke on multiple occasions with Trump administration officials to explore what he could get in exchange for ignoring Maduro, a usurper since January 10. The plan failed, but godfather survived again thanks to the Russian plug.
Today Maduro faces an existential dilemma: replacing it would imply opening a hornet in a fragile and hostile military environment. On July 28, 2024 it was clear that the military and their relatives voted the same as the civilian population: against the regime. The repudiation of the fan (B*) could even be deeper, as Maduro has used Cuban intelligence, via the terrorists of the DGCIM to monitor and mercilessly repress an institution that Chávez fractured since April 14, 2002 and that has never tolerated the couple Flores Maduro. The fan (b*) does not support them; He is too divided to fulfill his constitutional mandate to expel those who usurp and abuse power, sustained by a mega corrupt military dome.
External pressure, especially from the United States, and the silent but firm desire of the people to recover freedom are reducing those divisions. Within the fan (B*) two sides are emerging: narcos, miners and repressors on the one hand, and on the other who have not participated directly in crimes or oppression. Garrons by garrison, the calculations reveal that the “exposed criminals” are a minority from which many already seek to distance themselves to save the neck.
The rumor that Padrino López dies of cancer is just that: a rumor. The truth is that he himself has become a metastatic cancer for the armed force. Everyone is looking for how to get away from who did everything, and more, to earn the millionaire reward that weighs on their head. Will the Russians save this time? Very soon we will know. What is clear is that the story will condemn it, be it refugee in Moscow or in the prison that deserves forever.
