Venezuelan president replaces senior military commanders

CARACAS: Venezuela’s interim president said Thursday that she had replaced all her senior military commanders, the latest in a flurry of reforms since the United States ousted Nicolas Maduro.
Delcy Rodriguez announced the changes in a social media post a day after firing the long-serving defense minister, who had been close to Maduro, and replacing him with a former intelligence chief.
“I announce the designation of the renewed Military High Command,” said Rodriguez, who served as vice president under Maduro, the authoritarian leftist toppled in an American special forces raid on January 3.
Under US pressure and even a threat of violence, Rodriguez is tasked with leading a country with the world’s largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles, with widespread shortages of food, medicine and other basics.
She has enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed under Maduro and reformed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country’s vast natural wealth.
President Donald Trump has said he effectively runs Venezuela now and is letting Rodriguez stay in power so long as she toes the US line.
Rodriguez is in the delicate position of trying to satisfy both Trump and Venezuelans still loyal to Maduro, who was taken to New York along with his wife for trial on US-issued drug trafficking charges.
The Venezuelan military, which has sworn loyalty to Rodriguez, is a powerful entity. It oversees oil, mining and food distribution enterprises, as well as customs operations and key government ministries, amid allegations of abuse and corruption.