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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro walking with his wife Deputy Cilia Flores (left) and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello (far right) at the 4F Barracks, during the change of command of the Venezuelan Army (FANB) in Caracas, on Tuesday, October 15, 2024. Photo: Presidential Press.
The president of Venezuela and commander-in-chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB), Nicolás Maduro, led a ceremony of the transfer of command of the General Commands of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Bolivarian National Militia, the Presidential Honor Guard (GHP), the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), and the eight Strategic Regions of Comprehensive Defense (REDI).
The ceremony took place on Tuesday, October 15, in the 4F Barracks of the 23 de Enero parish, Caracas. “This is a serious and important event to strengthen the direction of security of the country,” said President Maduro. “We are on the right side of history, and we have the military power that the country needs in order to remain free, independent, and sovereign.”
The president transferred the leadership of the Bolivarian Army to Major General Johan Alexander Hernández Lárez, that of the Bolivarian Air Force to Major General Lenín Lorenzo Ramírez Villasmil, that of the Bolivarian Navy to Admiral Ashraf Andel Hadi Suleimán Gutiérrez, that of the Bolivarian National Militia to Major General Orlando Ramón Romero Bolívar, and the leadership of the Presidential Honor Guard to Major General Javier Marcano Tábata.
President Maduro also congratulated the former general commanders of all these commands, highlighting “their work and leadership in guaranteeing the democratic stability of Venezuela. They have continued their paths of moral strengthening, I congratulate them all for the work that they accomplished. They are an example of capacity, always ready to fulfill the legacy of Commander Chávez.”
“We are confident that we will triumph against every challenge. We have fought great battles and we must be prepared for what is to come, for the peace of the country,” said the president.
During the ceremony, he also instructed those taking charge of the commands and the REDI to strengthen unity in the military body. “Venezuela has a military power that defends the nation; it is patriotic, revolutionary, Bolivarian and increasingly Chavista, anti-oligarchic, and anti-colonialist,” he said.
Maduro acknowledges receipt of invitation from the National Assembly to be sworn in on January 10
During the ceremony, President Maduro reported that he had received the invitation from the National Assembly for his swearing-in on January 10, 2025, having won the presidential election of July 28. He confirmed that he received the invitation letter and that he will formally attend the swearing-in according to the Constitution, “before which the winning candidate is sworn in after the announcement is made by the Electoral Branch.”
“Greetings to the president of the National Assembly, Deputy Jorge Rodríguez,” he added. “I have received the invitation from the directorate of the National Assembly, to be sworn in as the constitutional president for the 2025-2031 term, on January 10, at the Federal Legislative Palace, before the people of Venezuela.”
Ayacucho Plan 2024-2030
During the ceremony, President Maduro also activated the Ayacucho Plan 2024-2030 as part of a structural and strategic transformation, with a long-term vision, to consolidate a military power that guarantees respect for Venezuela and the full exercise of the Constitution, in freedom and independence.
In this regard, he stated that starting on December 9, 2024, during the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the victory of the Liberation Army in the Pampas de Ayacucho, this plan will be activated for the complete transformation of the FANB, which will culminate on December 17, 2030 after “achieving a leadership role in Latin America, in the Caribbean. Venezuela will be at the forefront of the construction of the new multipolar world.”
President Maduro added that he has faith in the FANB to build “a powerful Venezuela, a great Venezuela.”
Strategic tasks
The Venezuelan president instructed the new military leadership to execute the tasks in the following aspects:
Fight against criminal gangs
President Maduro also called for deepening the civic-military-police union through the Rapid Response Units (URRA) throughout Venezuela, “freeing the national territory from any type of group creating violence or destabilization.”
Venezuela Confirms Willingness to Help Colombia Without Interfering in its Internal Affairs
He further called upon the armed forces “to guarantee that the entire territory of the country is free of criminal gangs and mercenaries and any type of conspiring vermin that intend to interfere with the peace and tranquility of Venezuela.”
Fake news against CNE president
President Maduro also condemned the attacks by international media outlets against the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso. He especially criticized the Colombian magazine Semana, which he branded as “the magazine of drug trafficking, of the paramilitaries Álvaro Uribe Vélez and Iván Duque,” for falsely claiming that “Elvis Amoroso tried to flee from Venezuela.”
In reality, Amoroso is in Venezuela, and was present at Tuesday’s military event.
Semana magazine, citing the Miami Herald, had claimed that Elvis Amoroso had allegedly been detained at the FANB headquarters at the Tiuna Fort after having been captured while “planning to leave the country.”
“I tell Vicky Dávila [Colombian journalist working for Semana], an accomplice of Colombian drug trafficking and paramilitaries: ‘You missed the mark again,’” President Maduro said, referring to the fake news published by Semana.
President Maduro criticized the entirety of Colombian media, saying, “You should continue as you are, which is going quite well, with lies, fake news, while we will continue with the truth.”
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
