Venezuelan Military Still Loyal to Regime After Maduro Ouster, Exiles Say

Real change has yet to come to Venezuela despite the ouster of President Nicolás Maduro, with the armed forces still firmly loyal to the regime, former security officials living in exile said on Monday.

Speaking from the Colombian–Venezuelan border, Williams Cancino watched last weekend as US forces carried out a dramatic operation to capture his former boss. He said he had hoped the move would mark the start of freedom for Venezuela after 25 years of repression, economic collapse and one-party rule.

But Cancino, a former officer in Venezuela’s police and Special Action Forces who defected in 2019, said meaningful change would require a complete overhaul of the country’s security leadership. “A new high command is needed,” he told AFP. “The top brass are totally loyal to the regime.”

Through disputed elections and the suppression of mass protests, the security forces helped keep Maduro’s government in power. Several former soldiers and police officers, now in exile and branded traitors by Caracas, told AFP that despite the dramatic removal of Maduro, much of the power structure remains intact.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino — both wanted by US authorities — continue to wield significant influence, they said. The military, as well as Maduro’s son, have pledged loyalty to interim leader Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president and a close ally of Maduro.

“The current leadership of the armed forces is nothing more than an extension of a dictatorial regime,” said a former colonel who spoke on condition of anonymity. With Maduro now out of the country, he said the military high command should step aside.

Cleberth Delgado, a former detective, expressed similar doubts about the prospects for a political transition while commanders loyal to Rodríguez remain in place. Many ex-officers, he said, are in contact with former colleagues and are preparing to return to Venezuela when conditions allow.

“We are waiting for the right moment to support a new government — one elected at the ballot box,” Delgado said, adding that there is little indication such a transition is imminent.

Even US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said elections are not Washington’s immediate priority in Venezuela, while President Donald Trump has dismissed the idea that opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado could lead the country.

While some former officers still speak of change by force, Cancino urged restraint. “We don’t want conflict, and certainly not a civil war,” he said. “We don’t want to fight our own brothers.”