The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado reacted sharply to the decision made by the chavismo to remove Tourism Minister Leticia Gómez (Cuban) and replace her with Daniella Cabello, daughter of the government leader Diosdado Cabello.
For Machado, the change does not signify any real renewal of power, but rather a mere rearrangement within the same structure that has controlled the country for more than two decades.
In statements to Colombian media, Machado asserted that what is happening is a "rearrangement among mafias" and emphasized that, although names or positions may change, the essence of the system remains intact.
"It may have a name, an ism, another ism, one color or another, but in the end, it's the mafia," he emphasized.
In his words, it is the same network that has dismantled Venezuelan institutions, devastated millions of families, pushed a third of the population into exile, and destroyed the economy, wages, and social fabric of the country.
The opposition leader stated that this group of power is responsible for children and the elderly suffering from hunger and for having handed over Venezuelan sovereignty to dark international alliances.
He mentioned the ties with powers such as Russia, China, and Iran, as well as with the Cuban regime, and also with criminal organizations, armed groups, and extremist organizations, which he reported are part of the network that supports chavismo.
Machado also emphasized that, for the first time in many years, these internal disputes within the government are occurring in a context of international pressure that the regime has never faced with such intensity.
"They are betraying or displacing each other, just as they did in the past; evidently, today they do so exposed to the whole world and under a level of, let's say, pressure that they have never faced in 27 years," he emphasized.
In his view, the Chavista leaders believed themselves untouchable and are now unprepared to accept that the decay of the system is irreversible.
According to the opposition figure, some actors within the governing party are starting to look for individual exits, "bridges," and communication channels "to see how they can come out looking good" in a changing scenario that they can no longer avoid.
This reveals not strength, but fear and personal calculation within a structure that knows its time is running out.
"They never thought or believed this could happen; they truly convinced themselves that they were untouchable," she pointed out.
The power that is inherited in chavismo
The replacement of the Cuban Daniella Cabello by the daughter of Diosdado Cabello has been viewed by the opposition as yet another example of the nepotism that characterizes chavismo, rather than a move towards the professionalization of the State.
Daughter of one of the most powerful men in the regime, her rise symbolizes -according to critics- how power is inherited as if it were a family estate.
Delcy Rodríguez, who serves as acting president, announced the change in the Ministry of Tourism through her social media.
In her message, she thanked Leticia Gómez for her work and introduced Daniella Cabello as the person responsible for "driving the development and promotion of the National Tourism System."
However, for large sectors, the change in leadership does not respond to technical criteria, but rather to political and familial loyalties.
Leticia Gómez had arrived in Venezuela from Cuba in 2001 with Manuel Marrero Cruz, the current Cuban prime minister and former leader of the military hotel group GAESA.
Under his guidance, Gómez advanced from the management of expropriated hotels to the presidency of Venetur and then to the Ministry of Tourism during Nicolás Maduro's administration.
His trajectory reflected the direct influence of the Cuban model on the Venezuelan economic and political apparatus.
Tourism, both in Cuba and Venezuela, has been used as a means to generate foreign currency and support militarized power structures.
On the Island, Marrero Cruz turned that sector into his main political lifeline, even amid blackouts, inflation, and a massive migration. The presence of Cuban figures in the Venezuelan administration has been seen for years as part of that export of state control and discipline.
Gómez's departure could be interpreted as a gesture of distancing from chavismo in relation to the Cuban regime, but the arrival of Daniella Cabello reinforces, according to analysts and Machado herself, the idea that the issue is not one nationality versus another, but rather the continuation of a system based on clientelism, corruption, and the use of power for the benefit of an elite.
Daniella Cabello, 33 years old, had already been listed among the 21 figures of chavismo sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) following the 2024 electoral fraud.
With a frustrated artistic career and unfinished university studies in Political Science, she was first placed at the head of the Country Brand Foundation and then of the Export Promotion Agency, in addition to participating in the Venezuela Joven Mission, which was key in the officialist indoctrination.
Married to producer and singer Omar Acedo and known for her luxurious lifestyle showcased on social media, Daniella Cabello has become a symbol of the contrast between the opulence of the Chavista elite and the precarious conditions faced by most Venezuelans.
For María Corina Machado, this appointment confirms that the regime is unwilling to change, but rather to recycle itself.
"It’s the same mafia with different disguises," he insists. And while this is happening, he warns, the country continues to pay the price of a model that destroyed its institutions, impoverished its people, and compromised its future.
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