Gustavo Enrique González López is the former Venezuelan Minister of Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace (MPPRIJP) in 2015-2016 and is the current director of the National Intelligence Service (SEBIN).

Career

Gustavo González López graduated from the Military Academy in 1982, with prominent classmates including Bolivar state governor,

Francisco Rangel Gómez Francisco Gómez is a Venezuelan politician. He was governor of Bolívar state. In the 2008 Venezuelan regional elections he won 67% of the vote, against Andrés Velásquez' 30%. He was previously president of the Corporacion Venezolana de Gua ...

. Between January and May 1991, Lopez Gonzalez was sent to the

School of the Americas The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of the Americas, is a United States Department of Defense school located at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, renamed in the 2001 National Defens ...

at Fort Benning, in Georgia for a "Psychological Operations" and Advanced Officer Training course by the US Army.

Chávez government

López González joined the Venezuelan cabinet in 2006 where he served as president of Metro de Caracas and

Los Teques Metro The Los Teques Metro is a suburban mass-transit system in the city of Los Teques, Venezuela with connections to important surrounding cities and communities. It was opened to public service on November 3, 2006. The Los Teques Metro currently oper ...

. In December 2008, President

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 ...

appointed him commander of the 5th Jungle Infantry Division, Operation Theatre No. 5 and Garrison

Ciudad Bolivar Ciudad () is the Spanish word for City Ciudad may also refer to: *La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona *La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico *''La ciudad'', novel by Mario Levrero 1970 *La Ciudad ''The City'' ...

. He was made the commanding general of the Bolivarian Militia on 30 July 2011. He also served as secretary of the Security and Intelligence Unit Electric System.

Maduro government

Since 17 February 2014, following the controversial shootings during the

2014 Venezuelan protests In 2014, a series of protests, political demonstrations, and civil insurrection began in Venezuela due to the country's high levels of urban violence, inflation, and chronic shortages of basic goods attributed to economic policies such as strict ...

in Candelaria which left

Bassil Da Costa Bassil Da Costa (Guatire, 7 May 1990 – Caracas, 12 February 2014) was a Venezuelan university student, killed during the 2014 protests against the Venezuelan government, the first death of the wave of protests. Da Costa was a marketing student ...

shot dead, he was appointed Director of

Bolivarian Intelligence Service The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service ( es, Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional, SEBIN) is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela. SEBIN is an internal security force subordinate to the Vice President of Venezuela since 201 ...

(SEBIN) and president of Strategic Centre for Security and Protection Patria. González López was one of seven officials that received targeted sanctions by the government of

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

for alleged human rights abuses. Following the announcement of sanctions, González López was promoted to Minister of Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace on 15 March 2015 by 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 unio ...

, who stated "I have decided to appoint Major General González López Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace to go with his award of the American empire to secure peace in the country, citizen and national security". On 1 July 2017, President

named González López

general-in-chief General in Chief has been a military rank or title in various armed forces around the world. France In France, general-in-chief (french: général en chef) was first an informal title for the lieutenant-general commanding over others lieutenant- ...

of the

Venezuelan army The Venezuelan Army, officially the National Army of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, Ejército Nacional de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is one of the six professional branches of the Armed Forces of Venezuela. Also known ...

. In 2018, González López allegedly faced scrutiny within the Maduro government following a drone attack targeting Maduro and the death of Fernando Albán Salazar, who died in SEBIN custody at the agency's headquarters. He was subsequently replaced by

Manuel Cristopher Figuera Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera is the former director of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and former major general of the Venezuelan army. He is known for being a main conspirator during the failed 2019 Venezuelan uprisi ...

. Following the

2019 Venezuelan uprising On 30 April, during the Venezuelan presidential crisis, a group of several dozen military personnel and civilians joined Juan Guaidó in his call for an uprising against Nicolás Maduro as part of what he labeled "Operation Freedom" (). Reuters ...

against Maduro, which saw SEBIN director Cristopher Figuera participate as a plotter, González López was named Director of SEBIN for the second time by Maduro.

Controversy

Sanctions

González has been sanctioned by several countries. The U.S. sanctioned González for his role in the

. U.S. President

issued a presidential order in 2015 declaring Venezuela a "threat to its national security" and ordered the

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 ...

to freeze property and assets of seven Venezuelan officials. The U.S. held the seven individuals, including González, responsible for "excesses committed in the repression of the demonstrations of February 2014 that left at least 43 dead" including "erosion of human rights guarantees, persecution of political opponents, restrictions on press freedom, violence and human rights abuses in response to anti-government protests, arbitrary arrests and arrests of anti-government protesters, and significant public corruption" according to

BBC Mundo BBC Mundo (Spanish for ''BBC World'') is part of the BBC World Service's foreign language output, one of 40 languages it provides. History BBC Mundo is the BBC's service for the Spanish-speaking world. It is part of BBC World Service. The ...

. Canada sanctioned 40 Venezuelan officials, including González, 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

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 seven Venezuela officials, including González, 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. In March 2018, Panama sanctioned 55 public officials, including González, Also a
Panama Economic and Finance Ministry
and Switzerland implemented sanctions, freezing the assets of seven ministers and high officials, including González, due to human rights violations and deteriorating rule of law and democracy. Also a
Diario Las Americas
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez Lopez, Gustavo Living people Venezuelan Ministers of Interior People of the Crisis in Venezuela 1960 births