In a bold and ruthless power grab, Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has effectively declared war on powerful factions within her own government, executing a sweeping purge of the security apparatus to neutralize her most dangerous rival and cement her fragile rule. The moves, coming just 12 days after the U.S. captured former President Nicolás Maduro, reveal a leader fighting for survival not against a foreign invader, but against the very Chavista hardliners who were once her allies.
Rodríguez’s opening salvo was a targeted decapitation of the security forces loyal to her chief internal threat: Diosdado Cabello, the hardline interior minister known as “the Octopus” for his sprawling influence over the police, prisons, and armed civilian militias known as colectivos. Her most crucial move was installing Major General Gustavo González López as the new head of Venezuela’s feared military counterintelligence agency (DGCIM) and commander of the presidential guard, replacing an officer who failed to stop Maduro’s capture.
The Target: ‘The Octopus’ and His Empire of Fear
Rodríguez’s power play is a direct assault on Cabello’s empire. As interior minister, Cabello controls the nation’s police and prisons and is the undisputed patron of the colectivos —paramilitary motorcycle gangs that have terrorized neighborhoods and enforced regime loyalty for years. His first act after Maduro’s capture was a theatrical display of defiance, appearing on his state-TV show in a flak jacket, surrounded by armed guards, leading chants of “To doubt is to betray”.
Yet, U.S. officials have reportedly put Cabello “on notice,” warning him that he will be next to fall unless he cooperates. With a U.S. indictment and a $25 million bounty on his head, Cabello is boxed in, making him both Rodríguez’s greatest threat and most vulnerable rival. By placing González—a loyalist she previously promoted within the state oil company—in command of the agency meant to spy on the military itself, Rodríguez is attempting to surgically remove Cabello’s tentacles from the state’s coercive core.
The Enforcer: A ‘Perfect Ally’ for a Crackdown
The appointment of González López is not a bureaucratic shuffle; it is a declaration of intent. González is a notorious figure with a dark history of running the SEBIN intelligence service, where systematic torture, arbitrary detention, and extrajudicial violence became tools of state policy. His return to a top security post signals that Rodríguez prioritizes control through fear and is willing to recycle the very architects of Maduro’s repression to secure her own power.
This creates a perilous paradox. Rodríguez must publicly project a “new political moment” and continue prisoner releases to satisfy her American backers, including a recent pledge to free more detainees. Simultaneously, she is empowering a security chief infamous for making prisoners disappear. This dual strategy reveals the essence of her “war”: using concessions to Washington as a shield while wielding a brutal, familiar hammer against her domestic enemies.
The war is playing out in a Venezuela paralyzed by tension and fear. Colectivos patrol the streets of Caracas, setting up checkpoints, searching phones, and intimidating citizens, demonstrating that Cabello’s street-level power remains potent. The security forces are “skittish,” with a recent burst of anti-aircraft fire over the presidential palace—triggered by mistaken panic over drones—highlighting how close the city is to erupting into violence.
Rodríguez walks a razor’s edge. She must convince Chavista loyalists she is not a U.S. puppet who betrayed Maduro, while also meeting Trump’s demands to boost oil production, which is the price of her political survival. One misstep could cause the fragile civil-military alliance at the heart of the Venezuelan state to shatter, potentially unleashing open conflict between the military, militias, and criminal gangs.
A War with Only One Possible Victor
For now, Rodríguez holds crucial advantages: control over the civilian government and the vital oil ministry, and, most importantly, the explicit backing of the United States. A meeting with CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Caracas underscored this support, while President Trump has praised her as “very good to deal with”.
Diosdado Cabello, despite his bluster, has been weakened and humiliated by Maduro’s abduction under his watch. One former minister described him as a “walking zombie” with “his pants down,” left with little agency but to follow the Rodríguez siblings’ lead or face a U.S. strike himself.
The power grab in Caracas is therefore a war of consolidation. Delcy Rodríguez is not fighting for pure political survival. By declaring war on her own government, she is betting that a combination of American patronage and ruthless, centralized control of the security state can strangle her rivals before they strangle her.
