9 de enero 2025
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro activated “Comprehensive Leadership Bodies” on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. He claimed the initiative will combine political power, the Armed Forces, and police forces with the mission of “defending the country’s peace” in the days leading up to January 10, when he insists he will be sworn in for a third consecutive term.
During a swearing-in ceremony of Bolivarian militias at the Miraflores Palace, the presidential headquarters in Caracas, Maduro announced that, exercising his “powers as constitutional president” and “commander-in-chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces,” he had approved the formation of these defense groups through a decree.
Wearing a camouflage uniform, Maduro described the new umbrella structure as “the superior body at the national, state, municipal, and communal levels that integrates all of Venezuela’s political power,” popular power, the Armed Forces, the Bolivarian National Militia “as a special component” of the military institution, and the police forces.
Maduro assured that these groups would begin operating “as of tonight” on January 7 and continue through January 8 and 9, ahead of January 10, the date set by the Constitution for the presidential inauguration, which both Maduro and exiled opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez have announced they will attend.
According to Maduro, the new structure activated “in all states, municipalities, parishes, and communities” will ensure “the exemplary victory of peace.”
“Active” Militias Across Venezuela
Maduro said that the new structure would operate to defend “peace, stability, and Venezuelan families” across 355 municipalities, all parishes, and communities.
Hundreds of armed militia members and workers from state companies and public agencies marched to Miraflores from the “4F Mountain Barracks,” where the remains of the late President Hugo Chavez (1999–2013) are interred.
Earlier, the general commander of the Militia, Orlando Romero, expressed support for Maduro and “his swearing-in as president for the 2025–2031 term,” stating that Venezuela is “organized to defend itself” from “all threats,” thanks to the “perfect integration and popular-military-police fusion.”
Arrests of Opposition Members and Activists
Enrique Marquez, an opposition candidate in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential elections, from the Centrados party, was detained on Tuesday by State security agents, according to the anti-Chavista group Voluntad Popular (VP).
On social media, VP described the act as a “kidnapping” and blamed Maduro’s government, accusing it of carrying out a “wave of disappearances of leaders and human rights activists this Tuesday.”
Marquez’s arrest follows the detention earlier on Tuesday of six opposition politicians, as well as the disappearance of activist Carlos Correa and the kidnapping of Rafael Tudares, son-in-law of opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, in Caracas.
The Venezuelan NGO Espacio Público, which defends freedom of expression, the right to information, and social responsibility, reported the disappearance of its executive director, Carlos Correa, who, “according to witnesses, was intercepted in downtown Caracas by alleged hooded officials.”
Correa’s disappearance was also reported by various activists demanding information about his whereabouts.
The majority opposition, grouped in the Democratic Unity Platform (PUD), claims electoral fraud and asserts the victory of its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez. They claim to have evidence from 85.18% of the polling station records collected on election day through witnesses and poll watchers deployed across the country’s 30,000+ voting precincts.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.
