Diosdado Cabello
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Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963) is a Venezuelan politician who currently serves as Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace since 2024. Cabello is a former member of the National Assembly of Venezuela, where he previously served as Speaker. He is also an active member of the Venezuelan armed forces, with the rank of captain. Cabello played a key role in Hugo Chávez's return to power following the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt. 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 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. In 2010, he was elected a member of parliament by his home state of Monagas. In 2011, President Hugo Chávez named him the secretary-general of Venezuela’s ruling party, the PSUV. In 2012, he was elected and sworn in as President of the National Assembly of Venezuela, 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. Cabello has been accused by Venezuelan defectors and pro-opposition media of being a major figure in the Cartel of the Suns, using nepotism to reward friends and family members, and directing colectivos while paying them with funds from Petróleos de Venezuela. 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 offered $10 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction by the US in relation to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. Described in 2013 as the second most powerful man in Venezuela, Reuters wrote in 2012 that Cabello possessed significant "sway with the military and lawmakers plus close links to businessmen."