El presidente Nicolás Maduro ratificó el jueves al general en jefe Vladimir Padrino López en el cargo de ministro de la Defensa de Venezuela, el cual ostenta desde el 2014, entre otros puestos de cercanos jefes castrenses que son considerados piezas clave en el apoyo de la fuerza armada al mandatario socialista.Además de Padrino López, quedaron ratificados los jefes del Comando Estratégico Operacional (CEOFAN), el Ejercito, la Guardia Nacional y la Milicia Bolivariana, “un poderoso equipo para seguir construyendo el poder militar de la nación”, dijo Maduro en una ceremonia de graduación de 944 cadetes y su ascenso a tenientes y tenientes de corbeta. Texto Completo -> SanDiegoUnionTribune

︎For English text, use Google’s translator at the bottom ︎

“Venezuela today, unfortunately, (…) is facing a paramilitary base of operations in Colombian territory that systematically attacks with all its perverse plans of the Colombian oligarchy the homeland of the liberator [Simón Bolívar]”said the minister in the framework of an act for the commemoration of the 195 years of the Amphictyonic Congress of Panama. Full Text -> MarketResearchTelecast

Nicolás Maduro ratified General-in-Chief Vladimir Padrino López as Minister of Defense of Venezuela, a position he has held since October 2014. Padrino is considered a key player in the support of the armed forces for the socialist leader.
“You are still at the forefront, we continue in battle, we continue in permanent combat,” Maduro said at a joint graduation ceremony for 1,052 new officers of the armed forces.

Padrino López, 58, has accompanied Maduro in that position for almost seven years, being the defense minister who has lasted the longest in the country’s history. By OnVenezuela

In his speech on the Venezuela independence day, the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, made clear that any elections would be a pantomime by assuring that the opposition “can never exercise political power in Venezuela”; that “… they will never be political power while there is a Bolivarian National Armed Force like the one we have today, anti-imperialist, revolutionary and Bolivarian … it is good that they understand it.”
This declaration gives further support to the position of the international community that had already rejected the next parliamentary elections, once the Venezuelan regime, through the Supreme Court of Justice, that it controls, has illegally named the directive of the body that controls the electoral process (Consejo Nacional Electoral – CNE), as well as the new directives of two of the most important political parties in Venezuela.
The international community has called for greater electoral transparency, the release of hundreds of political prisoners, a balanced CNE, the participation of all parties and their leaders, and international observation.
 

 However, it seems now that if Padrino isn’t willing to move against Maduro, the Commander of the Strategic Operational Command, Admiral Ceballos, should be the target of anyone who’s looking for regime change in Venezuela, and we’re seeing around him the same tense equilibrium that we described around Padrino last year: Maduro might not be happy with one man in uniform holding so much power over his future, but removing him might be the riskier move. Full text -> Caracas Chronicles

As head of Venezuela’s military, General Vladimir Padrino López is a steadfast socialist, ready to defend his beleaguered country’s self-professed revolutionary government. But in his private life, his family has built up a web of private companies and real estate in Venezuela and the United States worth millions of dollars. By Organized Crime and corruption reporting project. Full text -> Miami Herald