The Commander-in-Chief’s uniform with which Nicolás Maduro strives to achieve leadership in the armed forces

That in the power of any country there is a man dressed in a military uniform does not augur democracy or freedom; at least that is how history captures it in specific cases. The temptation to wear the uniform is closely linked to control, to force, to what it means to have the weapons in hand and to place them with an advantage over the adversary or the suitor. Nicolás Maduro has appeared on several occasions wearing a uniform created by Hugo Chávez to give him a military rank in his role as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

There are many cases of men in uniform, many of them because they were in the military. The variations are symbols, color and camouflage. Across the ocean appeared the bloodthirsty Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Idi Amin Dada the Ugandan butcher, Hideki Tōjō, Prime Minister of Japan in WWII, Mauamar Kadafi in Libya, Iraqi Saddam Hussein, Russian José Stalin, among others.

America also has the men in uniform who wanted to perpetuate themselves in power, Jorge Rafael Videla in Argentina, the Salvadoran tyrant General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Manuel Antonio Noriega in Panama, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo “Chapita” in the Republic Dominican Republic, the Cuban Fidel Castro with great ancestry in the Venezuelans Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, although we must also include among those who surrendered in the uniform: the dictators Juan Vicente Gómez and Marcos Pérez Jiménez.

In the Organic Law of the Armed Forces (LOFAN) of Venezuela, of 2008, it appeared in article 6 that the President of the Republic “has the military rank of Commander-in-Chief and is the highest hierarchical authority of the National Armed Forces. Bolivarian. He exercises supreme command, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and other laws. Directs the general development of operations, defines and activates the conflict zone, theaters of operations and strategic integral defense regions, as well as spaces for maneuvers and demonstrations, designating their respective commanders and setting the corresponding territorial jurisdiction , according to their nature. of the case “.

He adds that “under his command and direction is the Commander-in-Chief, made up of a staff and the units he designates. Its organization, its functioning, its insignia of rank and the banner of the commander-in-chief will be defined in the respective regulations ”.

The military rank is maintained in the so-called constitutional law, which is not envisaged in the Venezuelan legal system, but which was the ruse of the National Constituent Assembly to give “legality” to the militia as a component.

Uniform in Miraflores

All the presidents of the Republic of Venezuela have served as commanders in chief of the armed forces. Before Chávez, the last to wear a military uniform was General Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez, a dictator ousted in 1958.

The misuse of the uniform caused a stir, mainly in the armed forces, as happened when Blanca Ibáñez, the private secretary to then-President Jaime Lusinchi, with whom he had an affair, dressed in a camouflaged suit and received military honors. But between 1958 and 1998, there was nothing significant with the use of the military uniform in Venezuela, beyond the incident with Ibáñez that day in 1987.

Chávez’s rise to power caused the army lieutenant colonel to become obsessed with controlling what he knew most at the time: military life. He wanted to show ancestry, to be the head of the institution to which he belonged. It is not enough for him to be the commander-in-chief of the armed forces as President of the Republic. He also played the influence of Fidel Castro Ruz, whom he idolizes beyond admiration; the Cuban dictator has always been characterized by the use of an olive green costume with military insignia, as well as the term “commander” before his name.

On March 9, 2021, Nicolás Maduro again dressed the Warrior, as he is called in the Armed Forces Campaign Suits, with the same color and symbols that Hugo Chávez Frías used, since he included the Commander in chief as military rank, during the reform of the organic law of the armed forces.

The military rank symbols he uses on his shoulder are those of Commander-in-Chief, which is one of the roles he fulfills as in this duality of Head of State. The President of the Republic as Director General.

Negative message

Former defense minister Major General Fernando Ochoa Antich told Infobae he found it “ridiculous” that Maduro was using a military suit. “This was launched by Hugo Chávez when he created the military rank of commander-in-chief, without understanding that this attribution corresponds to the President of the Republic. If so, you don’t need the rank of Commander-in-Chief, let alone a uniform, ”he said.

What is absurd is that this jacket or uniform should be used, if necessary, in a scene of war or military conflict with a neighboring country. “This uniform was invented by Chávez to satisfy his ego, after his colleagues removed him from power on April 11, 2002. He created the military rank so that they stop calling him lieutenant-colonel or sec commander and call him commander-in-chief, ”explains a senior officer who asks to keep his name in reserve for obvious reasons.

“The question for the armed forces is that if it is faced with the fuel crisis, the pandemic, the dollarization of the economy, the crisis of medical assistance and stop counting, the country has need a Commander-in-Chief or a President of the Republic who deals with the fundamental problems of the people ”.

According to him, Maduro’s intention is to deflect the issue from the crisis. “He intends to put us in a situation of conflict with Colombia. All over the world, the first leaders are doing everything they can to ensure that the pandemic does not destroy the economy and that is why they are trying to be effective as managers of public finances, while Maduro invents wars ”.

For his part, Commander Diego Comisso told Infobae that “this is not the first time he has used it. I don’t quite remember when Chávez invented this uniform with this degree of commander-in-chief, whether it was to be used only by him or by someone else. Perhaps Chávez invented it only for himself, because he believed he was immortal ”.

He calls the use of the uniform by Presidents, Chávez and Maduro “ridiculous”. “This ‘uniform’ does not represent an iota of common sense, totally insignificant and of course absolutely not influential, but on the contrary, it is totally repudiated. In particular, he associated it with a case of frustration, a feeling that is generated in an individual when he cannot satisfy a declared desire ”, underlines Comisso Urdaneta.

Rear Admiral Carlos Molina Tamayo admits that “this uniform is an invention of Chávez, who introduces it into the organic law of the armed forces, imitating that of the Cuban revolution used by Fidel Castro. Chávez did it because he believed that it would be eternal and that it remained in the law, which means that a cenutrio like Maduro, who is not a military man, wearing a uniform is only one part. of his ego and trying to show in the armed forces. that he is a commander ”.

The Bolivarian revolution came to power at the hands of Hugo Chávez, with the triumph of democratic elections, which was not the case with other men in uniform like Fidel Castro who did so by arms. In Chávez it is very clear why he always wanted to be in uniform, while in Nicolás Maduro this is still unknown, beyond his unsuccessful efforts to gain ascendancy in the military institution.