Venezuela’s interim president has said she has replaced all her senior military commanders, the latest in a flurry of changes since the US ousted Nicolás Maduro.
Delcy Rodríguez announced the changes in a social media post a day after firing the long-serving defence minister, who had been close to Maduro, and replacing him with a former intelligence chief.
“I announce the designation of the renewed military high command,” said Rodríguez on Thursday. She served as vice-president under Maduro, the authoritarian leftwinger toppled in an American special forces raid on 3 January.
Under US pressure and even a threat of violence, Rodríguez is tasked with leading a country with the world’s largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles, with widespread shortages of food, medicine and other basics.
She has enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed under Maduro and changed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country’s vast natural wealth.
President Donald Trump has said he effectively runs Venezuela now and is letting Rodríguez stay in power so long as she toes the US line.
Rodríguez is in the delicate position of trying to satisfy both Trump and Venezuelans still loyal to Maduro, who was taken to New York along with his wife for trial on US-issued drug trafficking charges.
The Venezuelan military, which has sworn loyalty to Rodríguez, is a powerful entity. It oversees oil, mining and food distribution enterprises, as well as customs operations and key government ministries, amid allegations of abuse and corruption.