Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez posted on X on March 18 that she had replaced Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez with Maj. Gen. Gustavo Gonzalez, the commander of the presidential honor guard and a former intelligence chief.

Padrino is a four-star general and began serving as defense minister in 2014. In that role, he oversaw a network of more than 2,000 generals, many of whom are involved in profitable illegal activities, including overpriced contracts for imports, schemes in the oil and gas sector, illegal gold mining and drug trafficking. The U.S. and other governments have sanctioned Padrino for human rights abuses, corruption and support for authoritarian rule. In addition to the group Rodriguez leads, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello is now the only remaining key stakeholder of the shared power structure that supported Maduro.