Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela also drug lord of Venezuela
, atentamente alcardon Diosdado Cabello Rondón , accessed 19 April 2010) is a
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
n politician and current member of the
National Assembly of Venezuela
The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...
, where he previously served as
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** In ...
. He is also an active member of the
Venezuelan armed forces
The National Bolivarian Armed Forces ( es, Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana - FANB) of Venezuela are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief (the President) and a civilian Minister of Defense. In addition to the army, navy, and air force ther ...
, with the rank of
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
.
Cabello played a key role in
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...
's return to power following the
2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt
A failed coup d'état on 11 April 2002 saw the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, ousted from office for 47 hours before being restored to power. Chávez was aided in his return to power by popular support and mobilization against the coup ...
. He became a leading member of Chavez’s Movimiento V República (MVR), and remains a leading member of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, into which MVR was merged in 2007. Governor of Miranda state from 2004 to 2008, he lost the 2008 election to prominent opposition leader
Henrique Capriles Radonski
Henrique Capriles Radonski (; born 11 July 1972) is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, who served as the 36th Governor of Miranda from 2008 to 2017.
Born in Caracas, he received a degree in law from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, a ...
and was subsequently appointed Public Works & Housing Minister. In November 2009, he was additionally appointed head of the National Commission of Telecommunications, a position traditionally independent from the Ministry of Public Works and Housing."Chavez eliminates autonomy of broadcasting commission," Informe21, 11 November 2009. In 2010, he was elected a member of parliament by his home state of Monagas. In 2011, President Hugo Chávez named him the vice president of Venezuela’s ruling party, the
PSUV
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela ( es, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) is a left-wing to far-left socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since 2010. It was formed from a merger of some of the p ...
. In 2012, he was elected and sworn in as President of the
National Assembly of Venezuela
The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...
, the country’s parliament. He was elected president of the National Assembly each year until 2016. He was the second and last president of the 2017 National Constituent Assembly.
Allegations of corruption involving Cabello includes being head of an international drug trafficking organization, accepting bribes from Derwick Associates for public works projects in Venezuela, using nepotism to reward friends and family members and directing colectivos while paying them with funds from
Petróleos de Venezuela
Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA, ) (English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production ...
. In 2013, there were at least 17 formal corruption allegations lodged against Cabello in Venezuela's prosecutors office. On 26 March 2020, the U.S.
Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...
offered $10 million for information to bring him to justice in relation to
drug trafficking
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...
and
narco-terrorism
Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by t ...
.
Often described as the second most, if not the most, powerful man in Venezuela,
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was est ...
notes that Cabello possesses significant "sway with the military and lawmakers plus close links to businessmen." Despite serving as the leader of Chavez' party, his overall reputation is that of a pragmatist rather than an ideologue.
Early life and education
Diosdado Cabello was born in
El Furrial
El Furrial is a town located in Maturín Municipality in the state of Monagas, Venezuela
It is the birthplace of politician Diosdado Cabello
Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela ...
While at Instituto Universitario Politécnico de las Fuerzas Armadas Nacionales, Cabello befriended
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...
and they played on the same baseball team.
During Chávez’s abortive ''coup d'état'' of February 1992 against the government of then-President
Carlos Andrés Pérez
Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez (27 October 1922 – 25 December 2010) also known as CAP and often referred to as ''Venezuelan Spanish#Some examples of Spanish words common in Venezuela.2C including some native Venezuelanisms .28slang.29, El ...
, Cabello led a group of four tanks to attack Miraflores Palace. Cabello was jailed for his participation in the coup, though President
Rafael Caldera
Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez ( (); 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009), twice elected the president of Venezuela, served for two five-year terms (1969–1974 and 1994–1999), becoming the longest serving democratically elected leade ...
later pardoned him with the rest of the coup participants and Cabello was released after only two years without any charges.
Political career
After Chávez was released from jail in 1994, Cabello helped him run his political campaign as he was a prominent member of the
Fifth Republic Movement
The Fifth Republic Movement (Spanish: ''Movimiento V uintaRepública'', MVR) was a socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to support the ca ...
Chávez was leading. Following Chávez’s 1998 electoral victory, he helped set up the pro-Chávez grassroots civil society organizations known as "
Bolivarian Circles
The Bolivarian Circles ( es, Círculos bolivarianos) are political and social organizations of workers' councils in Venezuela, originally created by President Hugo Chávez on 21 December 2001.http://www.bauleros.org/TEMAS/PAISES/ARGENTINA/2001-1 ...
" which have been compared to Cuba's
Committees for the Defence of the Revolution
Committees for the Defense of the Revolution ( es, Comités de Defensa de la Revolución, links=no), or CDR, are a network of neighborhood committees across Cuba. The organizations, described as the "eyes and ears of the Revolution," exist to ...
and are parent organizations for the Colectivos.
From 1999-2000, Cabello was head of the national telecommunications commission (CONATEL). The main telecommunications law he helped promulgate, known as the "Organic Telecommunications Law" (2000), was especially praised by the private sector. Specifically, it ended the state's prior monopoly on the industry and fostered a significant level of free-market competition, as Cabello's work helped increase the treasury's revenue by $400 million dollars at a time when oil prices were not especially high.
In May 2001, he became Chavez' chief of staff, and was appointed Vice President by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...
on 13 January 2002, replacing
Adina Bastidas
Adina Mercedes Bastidas Castillo (born 11 June 1943)
."Chavez Dismisses Vice President," Associated Press, 13 January 2002. As such, he was responsible to both the president and the National Assembly (Venezuela), National Assembly, and for the relations between the executive and legislative branches of the government.
On 13 April 2002, he took on the duties of the presidency on a temporary basis, replacing
Pedro Carmona
Pedro Francisco Carmona Estanga (born 6 July 1941) is a former Venezuelan business leader who was briefly installed as acting president of Venezuela in place of Hugo Chávez, following the attempted military coup in April 2002.Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce, as interim president during the ''coup d'état'' attempt when Chávez was kept prisoner and was consequently absent from office. Upon taking office, Cabello said that "I, Diosdado Cabello, am assuming the presidency until such time as the president of the republic, Hugo Chávez Frías, appears." A few hours later, Chávez was back in office. This made Cabello’s presidency the world’s second briefest, after that of
Mexican President
The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the C ...
Pedro Lascuráin.
On 28 April 2002, Cabello was replaced as Vice President by
José Vicente Rangel
José Vicente Rangel Vale (10 July 1929 – 18 December 2020) was a Venezuelan politician and journalist. He ran for president three times in the 1970s and 1980s and later supported Hugo Chávez. He served under Chávez as Minister of Foreign ...
. Cabello was named interior minister in May 2002, and then infrastructure minister in January 2003.
In October 2004, Cabello was elected to a four-year term as
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Henrique Capriles Radonski
Henrique Capriles Radonski (; born 11 July 1972) is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, who served as the 36th Governor of Miranda from 2008 to 2017.
Born in Caracas, he received a degree in law from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, a ...
, and was subsequently appointed Public Works & Housing Minister.
In 2009 he was additionally appointed head of Conatel. On 1 August 2009, 32 radio and 2 television stations were intervened, decision ordered by Cabello. The measure was received as an act of censorship by several non-governmental and international organizations.
On 11 December 2011, Cabello was installed as the Vice-President of the United Socialist Party (PSUV), thus becoming the second most powerful figure in the party after Hugo Chávez.
Cabello was appointed president of the National Assembly in early 2012 and was re-elected to that post in January 2013.
Cabello’s status after the death of
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...
was disputed. Some argue that Cabello was constitutionally required to be the acting President, but
Nicolás Maduro
Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019.
Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade union ...
held the position.
Television program
Cabello has his own weekly program on Venezolana de Televisión, '' Con el Mazo Dando'' (Going at it with the Club). In that program, Cabello talks about the government's view on many political issues and presents accusations against the opposition. The
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR or, in the three other official languages Spanish, French, and Portuguese CIDH, ''Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos'', ''Commission Interaméricaine des Droits de l'Homme'' ...
(IACHR) has expressed concerns about how the program has intimidated people that went to the IACHR denouncing the government.
Some Venezuelan commentators have compared the use of illegally recorded private conversations on programs such as Cabello's to the practices in place in the
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...
has denounced the way in which Cabello has revealed details on the travel
arrangements of two human rights defenders in his program and how he routinely shows state monitoring of people that may disagree with the government.
Personal life
His wife,
Marleny Contreras
Marleny Josefina Contreras Hernández de Cabello (born 14 June 1963), is a Venezuelan engineer and politician, wife of Diosdado Cabello. She served as Minister for Public Works until 12 August 2019 and was also Minister of Popular Power for Touris ...
, was elected as a member of the National Assembly until she became minister of tourism in 2015. Cabello’s sister, Glenna, is a political scientist and was Counsellor of the Venezuelan Permanent Mission to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
. His brother, José David, previously minister of infrastructure, is in charge of the nation’s taxes as head of
SENIAT SENIAT (''Servicio Nacional Integrado de Administración Aduanera y Tributaria''–- National Integrated Service for the Administration of Customs Duties and Taxes) is Venezuela's revenue service
A revenue service, revenue agency or taxation ...
, Venezuela’s revenue service. Now José David is also minister of Industries.
On 9 July 2020, Cabello tested positive for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
Rory Carroll
Rory Carroll (born 1972) is an Irish journalist working for ''The Guardian'' who has reported from the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Latin America and Los Angeles. He is the Ireland correspondent for ''The Guardian''. His book on Hugo Chávez, '' ...
for having "tentacles everywhere." He is very influential in the Venezuelan government, using a network of
patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
throughout the military, ministries and pro-government militias. He is described by a contributor to ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' as the " Frank Underwood" of Venezuela under whose watch the National Assembly of Venezuela has made a habit of ignoring constitutional hurdles entirely—at various times preventing opposition members from speaking in session, suspending their salaries, stripping particularly problematic legislators of parliamentary immunity, and, on one occasion, .
Information presented to the United States State Department by
Stratfor
Strategic Forecasting Inc., commonly known as Stratfor, is an American geopolitics publisher and consultancy founded in 1996. Stratfor's business model is to provide individual and enterprise subscriptions to Stratfor Worldview, its online public ...
claimed that Cabello was "head of one of the major centers of corruption in Venezuela." A leaked U.S. Embassy cable from 2009 characterized Cabello as a "major pole" of corruption within the regime, describing him as "amassing great power and control over the regime’s apparatus as well as a private fortune, often through intimidation behind the scenes". The communiqué likewise created speculation that "Chavez himself might be concerned about Cabello's growing influence but unable to diminish it."
Drug trafficking
Allegations of corruption involving Cabello includes being head of an international drug trafficking organization, accepting bribes from Derwick Associates for public works projects in Venezuela, using nepotism to reward friends and family members and directing colectivos while paying them with funds from
Petróleos de Venezuela
Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA, ) (English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production ...
. In 2013, there were at least 17 formal corruption allegations lodged against Cabello in Venezuela's prosecutors office. /ref>
On 27 January 2015, reports accusing Cabello of drug trafficking emerged. In a series of investigations by the United States government, it was stated that Cabello's alleged involvement in the drug trade as the "capo" (head) of the
Cartel of the Suns
A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...
(Spanish ''Cartel de los soles''), had also involved high-ranking generals of Venezuelan military.
On 26 March 2020, the U.S.
Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...
offered $10 million for information to bring him to justice in relation to
drug trafficking
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...
and
narco-terrorism
Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by t ...
.
Assassination plot targeting Marco Rubio
In mid-July 2017, reporters in Washington, D.C. observed an increased security presence surrounding
United States Senator
The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...
Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida Hous ...
. A month later on 13 August 2017, ''
The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
could not verify all of the details involved in the threat, though the plan was serious enough that multiple law enforcement agencies were contacted about the incident and Rubio's security detail had increased in size.
Sanctions
Cabello has been sanctioned by several countries and is banned from entering neighboring Colombia. The Colombian government maintains a list of people banned from entering Colombia or subject to expulsion; as of January 2019, the list had 200 people with a "close relationship and support for the Nicolás Maduro regime".
Canada
Canada sanctioned 40 Venezuelan officials, including Cabello, in September 2017. Also a Punto de Corte an El Nacional /ref> The sanctions were for behaviors that undermined democracy after at least 125 people will killed in the
2017 Venezuelan protests
The 2017 Venezuelan protests were a series of protests occurring throughout Venezuela. Protests began in January 2017 after the arrest of multiple opposition leaders and the cancellation of dialogue between the opposition and Nicolás Maduro's g ...
and "in response to the government of Venezuela's deepening descent into dictatorship". Canadians were banned from transactions with the 40 individuals, whose Canadian assets were frozen. The sanctions noted a rupture of Venezuela's constitutional order.
European Union
The
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
sanctioned Cabello and six other Venezuela officials on 18 January 2018, singling them out as being responsible for deteriorating democracy in the country. The sanctioned individuals were prohibited from entering the nations of the European Union, and their assets were frozen. Cabello, known as number two in
Chavismo
''Chavismo'' (from es, chavismo), also known in English as Chavism or Chavezism, is a left-wing political ideology based on the ideas, programs and government style associated with the Venezuelan President between 1999 and 2013 Hugo Chávez that ...
, had not been sanctioned by the U.S. when the European Union sanctioned him.
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...
placed sanctions in effect against Cabello, his wife, his brother and his "testaferro" Rafael Sarria. OFAC stated that Cabello and others used their power within the Bolivarian government "to personally profit from extortion, money laundering, and embezzlement", with Cabello allegedly directing drug trafficking activities with Vice President of Venezuela,
Tareck El Aissami
Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah (; ar, طارق زيدان العيسمي مداح; born 12 November 1974) is a Venezuelan politician serving as Minister of Industries and National Production since 14 June 2018, and as Minister of Petroleum sin ...
while dividing profits with President
Nicolás Maduro
Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019.
Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade union ...
. The Office also stated that Cabello would use public information to track wealth individuals who were potentially drug trafficking and steal their drugs and property in order to get rid of potential competition.
As a result of the sanctions, reports estimate that approximately $800 million worth of assets were frozen by the United States government. Cabello denied the reports, stating that it would be foolish to have assets located in a place where they could be seized.
Switzerland
On 28 March 2018, Cabello was sanctioned by Switzerland due to "human rights violations and the deterioration of the rule of law and democratic institutions", freezing their funds and banning them from entering Switzerland.
Mexico
The Mexican Senate froze the assets of officials of the Maduro administration, including Cabello, and prohibited them from entering Mexico on 20 April 2018. Also a VPITV /ref>
Panama
In March 2018, Panama sanctioned 55 public officials, including Cabello; Also a Panama Economic and Finance Ministry the officials were sanctioned by the Panamanian government for their alleged involvement with "money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...