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The acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, appointed General in Chief Vladimir Padrino López as the new Minister of Popular Power for Productive Agriculture and Lands this Monday, just 26 days after having dismissed him from the Ministry of Defense.
Rodríguez announced the appointment through her account on X, where she indicated that Padrino López takes on the commitment to promote agricultural production to ensure national supply and contribute to the country's new diversified economic model.
With this move, the longest-serving Defence Minister of chavismo —having held that position for 11 consecutive years, from October 2014 to March 18, 2026— returns to the cabinet in a portfolio completely unrelated to his military background.
Padrino López replaces Julio León Heredia, who was appointed to that position by Nicolás Maduro on February 5, 2025, and who will take on unspecified "new responsibilities."
During his administration, León Heredia had promoted reference prices of 360 dollars per ton for white corn and 320 for yellow corn, with the aim of substituting food imports that amount to 2.5 billion dollars annually.
The appointment of a general with no known agricultural background at the head of this strategic ministry has been interpreted by analysts and critical media as a political maneuver to keep Padrino López within the power structure, rather than as a technical decision aimed at food production.
The Venezuelan media outlet El Pitazo titled its coverage of the event as "Delcy Rodríguez rescues Padrino López by appointing him as her minister of Agriculture and Lands".
The dismissal of Padrino López from the Ministry of Defense in March occurred amid internal tensions within the Bolivarian National Armed Force and the accumulated strain following Nicolás Maduro's capture by the United States on January 3, 2026.
Instead, General Gustavo González López was appointed, a key figure in the intelligence and repression agencies of the regime—the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service—designated by international organizations for human rights violations.
Rodríguez assumed the interim presidency of Venezuela on January 5, 2026, following the capture of Maduro, and since then has implemented a series of changes in the cabinet and the military leadership to consolidate Chavista control.
Among these movements are 28 changes in the leadership of the Armed Forces in January, the dismissal of Alex Saab, the merging of ministries, and the removal of a Cuban Minister of Tourism in February.
The appointment of Padrino López to Agriculture took place on the same day that Rodríguez inaugurated the Labor and Social Dialogue Table, amid a government agenda aimed at projecting institutional stability in light of the new political landscape in Venezuela.
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