Venezuelan crisis defection

[11] The New York Times stated, "Chávez has moved against a wide range of domestic critics, and his efforts in recent weeks to strengthen his grip on the armed forces have led to high-profile arrests and a wave of reassignments.[22] Salazar claimed that Cabello headed the Cartel of the Suns, a military drug trafficking organization in Venezuela; he fled to the US and was placed in witness protection.[26] The Supreme Court barred her from leaving the country and froze her assets, due to alleged "serious misconduct" in office,[27] and she was dismissed as Prosecutor General by the newly established National Constitutional Assembly.[33] Maduro aides presented no evidence of alleged graft during Ramírez's tenure, and critics say the president was engaged in a "purge aimed at helping the embattled leader consolidate power over the country;s lifeblood oil industry", according to the Wall Street Journal.[35][36] In 2018, Rodríguez Torres, who had spoken the previous day at an opposition rally, was arrested by SEBIN agents; the Bolivarian government stated that the general had attempted to sow discord among the Venezuelan armed forces.[44] Venezuelan political experts, like David Smilde from the Washington Office on Latin America, suggested that this action would enrage Maduro, who already called the National Assembly "traitors" for not attending his inauguration, and who might arrest or attack more of its members.[45] During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, after the National Assembly declared Guaidó acting president, the Miami Herald reported that the Maduro regime feared a military uprising and defections, had made many arrests, and Padrino López ordered a counterintelligence effort to locate conspiracists or possible defectors.An opposition representative stated that the meetings were focused on army officers, who were amenable to the idea and "expressed concern about the Trump administration's past threats of military intervention in Venezuela and [...] that the armed forces would be outgunned in any fight".[55] Serving as a National Assembly deputy for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, The Wall Street Journal said the retired general is considered a pro-Maduro legislator.[55] In a video released online on 21 February,[54] he called for Venezuelan military forces to break ranks and to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to Venezuela."[54] In an interview with The New York Times, Carvajal said Maduro was a "dictator with a corrupt inner circle that has engaged in drug trafficking and courted the militant group Hezbollah".[67] Major General Alexis López Ramírez, who resigned his command of Venezuela's National Defense Council in 2017,[68] recognized Guaidó as president on 23 February 2019.[70] Rotondaro is a former Health Minister and former president of Venezuelan Social Security (Spanish: Instituto Venezolano de los Seguros Sociales – IVSS); in an 18 March interview with NTN24, he mentioned ex-Minister of Health Luis López as the person who had medicines withheld from patients,[71] referring to a New York Times interview of Cuban medical professionals published on the same day.[78] The BBC compared the mutiny to the El Junquito raid a year earlier, which resulted in the death of rebel leader Óscar Pérez.[9] Venezuela's ambassador in Iraq, Jonathan Velasco, recognized Guaidó, indicating that the National Assembly is the only government branch "associated with ethics, legitimacy and legality" and responsible for filling the "power vacuum created by the violation of the constitution".