The acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, ordered the removal of Major General José Adelino Ornelas Ferreira from the General Secretariat of the National Defense Council (Secodena), the agency that consolidates the flow of intelligence and strategic analysis at the heart of Venezuelan civil-military power.
The measure was formalized through Resolution 1302, dated August 11 and signed by the Minister of Defense, Chief General Gustavo Enrique González López, by express order of Rodríguez, reported Infobae.
In his place, Major General Jesús Rafael Villamizar Gómez was appointed on a temporary assignment as the new Secretary General of Secodena, with a term lasting until June 30, 2027.
The departure of Ornelas Ferreira is not just a simple administrative change: it marks the end of eight years of tenure for one of the last officials from Hugo Chávez's inner circle in a strategic position within the Venezuelan state.
His most emblematic position was as commander of the Presidential Honor Guard from 2011 to 2013, a responsibility that placed him alongside Chávez during the months of illness, the trips to Cuba for medical treatment, and the death of the former president on March 5, 2013.
Ornelas Ferreira publicly reported that in the final moments of Chávez, when he could no longer speak, the former president moved his lips to say: "I don't want to die, please don't let me die."
The general belonged to the generation known as the "febreristas," officers linked to the attempted coup on February 4, 1992, led by Chávez against President Carlos Andrés Pérez, which became the backbone of the Chávez military apparatus for more than two decades.
His career reflects a steady ascent to positions where political loyalty, military command, and sensitive information converged: he served as the Chief of the Joint Staff from 2017 to 2019, as Deputy Commander of the Strategic Operation Command, as Deputy Minister for Monitoring and Inspection of Government Management, and since September 2020, as Chief of the General Staff of the National Armed Forces.
In November 2019, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned him for the excessive use of force against protesters and journalists. Canada and the European Union had already included him on their own sanction lists earlier.
The removal of Ornelas is part of the systematic military restructuring that Rodríguez has carried out since taking over the presidency after Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces on January 3, 2026.
During that period, the Venezuelan government ordered 28 changes in the leadership of the Armed Forces in January, dismissed Vladimir Padrino López as Minister of Defense in March, promoted 168 high-ranking officers, changed six of the eight Strategic Defense Regions in July, and retired 110 generals and admirals in August.
The departure of Ornelas Ferreira marks the elimination of one of the last direct connections to the military core that accompanied Chávez until his death, amidst a deep restructuring of the high command that Rodríguez has expedited in recent months to consolidate her control over the Armed Forces.
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