{"id":17539,"date":"2026-01-06T21:51:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T16:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/?p=17539"},"modified":"2026-01-06T21:53:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T16:53:04","slug":"power-structure-in-venezuela-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/2026\/01\/06\/power-structure-in-venezuela-remain\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Structure in Venezuela Remains Unchanged despite Maduro\u2019s Exit, Analyst Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Power Structure in Venezuela Remains Unchanged despite Maduro\u2019s Exit, Analyst Says<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"100\" data-end=\"127\">Even though President Nicolas Maduro may no longer be at the forefront, the political and military system he led continues to firmly control Venezuela, according to analysts and local journalists. Key figures from Maduro\u2019s former administration are still holding decisive power over the country\u2019s major institutions in Caracas, suggesting that real change has yet to occur.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"504\" data-end=\"974\">Noris Argotte Soto, a Venezuelan reporter based in the capital, told <em data-start=\"573\" data-end=\"585\">Al Jazeera<\/em> that the country\u2019s authority is currently concentrated in the hands of three top officials. She explained that the military power of the state is largely controlled by Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. Meanwhile, political messaging, reactions, and public discourse are being managed by the newly appointed interim president, <a href=\"http:\/\/Delcy Rodr\u00edguez\">Delcy Rodr\u00edguez.<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"976\" data-end=\"1281\">\u201cIf you ask me who is running the country in terms of military force, you could say it\u2019s the defence minister and the interior minister,\u201d Soto said. \u201cBut political reactions and speech are in the hands of the interim president. So basically, these three people are the ones running the country right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1283\" data-end=\"1494\">According to Soto, despite changes in leadership titles, the structure of governance remains intact. She emphasized that daily realities for citizens have not shifted, adding that \u201cnothing has changed, in fact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1496\" data-end=\"1867\">She also highlighted the continued presence of pro-government paramilitary groups known as <em data-start=\"1587\" data-end=\"1599\">colectivos<\/em>. These groups, which have long been accused by critics of intimidating opposition supporters, remain active on the streets of Caracas. Soto noted that the colectivos are still working alongside military forces, participating in security operations across the capital.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1869\" data-end=\"2213\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">The ongoing influence of these armed civilian groups, combined with the continued dominance of key Maduro-era officials, reinforces concerns that Venezuela\u2019s political transition may be more symbolic than substantive. Observers say the situation points to a continuity of power rather than a genuine transformation of governance in the country.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Power Structure in Venezuela Remains Unchanged despite Maduro\u2019s Exit, Analyst Says Even though President Nicolas Maduro may no longer be at the forefront, the political and military system he led continues to firmly control Venezuela, according to analysts and local journalists. Key figures from Maduro\u2019s former administration are still holding decisive power over the country\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2297,2299],"tags":[3703],"class_list":["post-17539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-world","tag-nicolas-maduro-delcy-rodriguez-venezuela"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17539"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17543,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17539\/revisions\/17543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}