Nicolás Maduro degrades and expels generals in an attempt to stop the coup d'etat

Although Major General (Ej) Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios and the Major General (Ej) Carlos Alberto Rotondaro Cova they are not the first officers that Nicolás Maduro degraded and expelled from the armed forces, they represent two key figures for the Bolivarian revolution. The first, for being part of military intelligence for more than 10 years; and the second, because he chaired the Venezuelan Institute of Social Security (IVSS) as part of the missions that were the backbone of Hugo Chávez's government. These are two different profiles.

For a long time, especially since the arrival of Nicolás Maduro to the presidency, power relations have changed in Chavismo. One of the most uncomfortable leaders was "El Pollo", as General Carvajal Barrios, who has since become Chief of Investigations at the Military Intelligence Directorate (IMU) of 2003, said, demonstrate ability to build intelligence teams and networks, fundamental for Chavez who, since the coup d'état of 11 April 2002, felt threatened by his former comrades-in-arms. A year later, "El Pollo" held the direction of the agency, which would remain for almost a decade.

Chávez reluctantly tolerated – and against Cuban discontent – that General Carvajal did not allow the total interference of the islanders in the investigations and records that SID has made.

In exchange for that, Carvajal has guaranteed Chávez the main filter for promotionsto prevent officers who were not happy with the revolution from getting up again. He tried to keep the forms in order to avoid any violent reaction or to open the way for a rebellion movement when disqualifying an officer.

Over the years, Carvajal became a man of power. He loved to surround him with a great mystery. Only a half-blurred photo was the only thing that appeared on the Internet. Surrounded by this halo of intrigue and with an image that sowed fear among the military, he was the decisive man for certain missions and activities that screwed Chávez to power.

When Chavez fired him in December 2011 after the scandal caused by the death of a commander of the Bolivian Liberation Forces (FBL) and a report that did not convince the president of the Republic, the general Wilfredo Figueróa Chacín, with which the Cubans occupied, without any resistance, all the spaces of this Directorate of Investigations.

Carvajal returned to the direction of the DIM in April 2013, but will remain for nine months, until Maduro replaces him with the general Iván Hernández Dala, who comes to the leadership by moving any vestige of Carvajal into the institution.

"El Pollo" is named the same Venezuelan consul in Aruba in January, post that it only takes three months. Stay in the dark until Diosdado Cabello integrates him as a candidate for the Assembly, elected in December 2015.

This controversial person was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (FOCA), through his relations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who carried cocaine shipments, and allowing the installation of bases. guerrilla war on Venezuelan territory.

It is not surprising that Carvajal decided to accept the draft amnesty law and to recognize Juan Guaidó as acting president.. This is a character who has investigated the most important government officials. This general has a lot to say, if he likes it, about the secrets of the army, politicians and the top government.

Now, Maduro publishes Decree No. 3.786, published on March 20, according to Official Gazette No. 41.602 of March 20, 2019, in which degrades Carvajal and degrades and expels General Rotondaro Cova. The act is more symbolic than effective. "El Pollo" has long since retired from the armed forces, having successfully completed its active life in the armed component and pensions in a country of the world where inflation was highest, barely at the point of cover two or three products.

In the case of Rotondaro Cova he can hardly contribute to information, not even military, since he has remained in the public administration for more than a decade. He was one of the unconditional and silent members of the Bolivarian Revolution. The destruction of the Institute of Social Security and its hospitals occurred in their hands.

Deeply interrogated from an ethical point of view, Rotondaro can only bring Americans money.

Why is Maduro hurrying to belittle these two dissimilar officers?Because he's trying to contain the dike of loyalty that collapse by leaps and bounds in the military institution. It is one thing for those who recognize Juan Guaidó to be a troop and junior officers and another that they are generals who have also been key figures in their commitment to the revolution.

In prison, accused of treason against the fatherland and instigation of the rebellion, there are six retired generals: Former Minister and Major General (EJ) Miguel Rodriguez Torres, General-in-Chief (EJ) Raúl Isaías Baduel, before General Ángel Vivas Perdomo was arrested, while GD (Av) Oswaldo Antonio Hernández Sánchez is treated as a serious illness after being held for years and not seen by a medical specialist. Among the badets are Major General Pedro Naranjo, Major General Alejandro Pérez Gámez and Brigadier General Armando Hernández Da Costa.

The longest list is of generals who are out of the country or as a style: MG (Ex) Hebert García Square, MG (Ej) Cliver Alcalá Cordones, Brigadier General (Ej) Rodolfo Camacho Rincones, Major General (Ej) Jesús Alberto Milano Mendoza, General Antonio Rivero, several Vice-admirals as Mario Iván Carratú Molina, Edgar Morillo or Pedro Perez Rodríguez, Rear Admiral Carlos Molina Tamayo, among many other officers.

The only active officer is the general of aviation Francisco Esteban Yánez Rodríguez, military leader of the team of Juan Guaidó.

Without a doubt, the number of officers facing the government of Nicolás Maduro is increasing, but what is most disturbing in the executive, is that there are every day more references important military men who were or represented power men of the Bolivarian revolution. The shadow of the rebellion surrounds the Venezuelan barracks.