Li Nuestra Covertura in Spanish.
Footage has been released showing Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello surrounded by armed men in Caracas in the early hours of Saturday, shortly after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured, blindfolded and taken to the United States.
Maduro’s abduction “is a criminal and terrorist attack against our people,” said Cabello, wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet. The sky was still dark and I could hear drones overhead.
“We ask people to remain calm,” Cabello continued. “Trust our leadership. Trust our military and political leaders in the situation we face.”
That morning, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced an undisclosed U.S. indictment charging Maduro with drug trafficking and other crimes. Mr. Cabello was named second in the indictment, just below Mr. Maduro. Cabello is perhaps the most powerful Venezuelan government official named in the superseding indictment, as Maduro is in U.S. custody.
“There are essentially three centers of power in Venezuela right now,” said Brian Fonseca, a professor at Florida International University. “You have the center of gravity of President Maduro, and (acting president) Delcy Rodriguez is an extension of that. You have the defense minister, (Vladimir) Padrino López. The third, and perhaps most important, is Diosdado Cabello.”
Saturday’s indictment is not the first time the United States has targeted Cabello. In 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Cabello, his wife, and his brother for “drug trafficking.”
Two years later, the United States formally indicted him, putting a $10 million bounty on his head (later raised to $25 million) and accusing him of being a key figure in the Cartel de los Soles, an alleged drug-trafficking network led by Venezuelan government officials. Cabello, on the other hand, denied being a drug trafficker and called the accusations a “big lie.”
Cabello, 62, is one of the last remaining government officials from the old guard of late president Hugo Chávez and a true believer who personally participated in Chávez’s coup attempt in 1992.
“He was actually in the group of tanks that tried to enter the presidential palace,” Elias Ferrer, director and founder of Orinoco Research, told CNN in November. “I think this gives you a good idea of what kind of person he is.”
Cabello helped build Chavez’s political movement and eventually served as vice president. During the brief aborted 2002 anti-Chávez coup, Cabello even became president himself for a few hours before stepping down to allow Chávez to return to power.
Cabello, who was appointed interior minister in 2024, now heads the state’s vast domestic repression apparatus. Rights groups have accused Cabello of leading a campaign of repression amid heightened tensions with the United States, including political kidnappings and disappearances in late 2025.
In November, Ambar Castillo accused Cabello after his daughter Samanta went missing after being detained by police at her parents’ home in western Caracas.
“I hold the Minister of Interior and Justice Diosdado Cabello responsible for the persecution that our family is facing,” Castillo said in a video posted on social media.
Cabello also commands militias loyal to the state. Since Maduro’s abduction, the minister has posted numerous videos on social media of militia patrolling the streets of Caracas. In one of the videos, armed men shout: “Always loyal, but never a traitor!”
“He now has tremendous influence over the internal mechanisms of security and intelligence,” said Fonseca, a professor at Florida International University. “So I think he’s in the best position in terms of influence within the administration today, probably more than Delcy and more than Padrino López.”
Unlike Rodriguez or Padrino, Cabello is also an entertainer. Shortly after Chavez died of cancer in 2013, Cabello began hosting a weekly gossip talk show on Venezuelan television called “Con el Mazo Dando” (Spanish for “Hitting with a Club”).
The shows, which are often over three hours long, are filmed in front of a live audience in a studio. The format is simple. Cabello makes jokes, shares what he claims is exclusive information about Venezuela’s enemies, and pokes fun at American politicians.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is a favorite target, whom Mr. Cabello often refers to as a “crazy Cuban.” In an episode that aired just before Maduro was detained, Cabello sarcastically referred to US President Donald Trump as “His Imperial Majesty.”
Despite its tongue-in-cheek tone, rights advocates have denounced “Con el Maso Dando” as another means of repression. In July 2025, Amnesty International criticized Cabello for announcing the arrest of journalists on his show. The group previously accused Cabello in 2015 of using the show as a platform to “harass” activists.
Fonseca, like many figures in Venezuela’s regime, believes that Cabello’s future is in jeopardy.
“Cabello is in survival mode,” Fonseca said. “If the Americans can capture Maduro, that’s a message to Cabello, Rodriguez and Padrino: No one is untouchable.”
Fonseca explained that the interior minister is in a very weak position to reach a deal with the United States. In addition to the heavy sanctions and charges against him, his personal beliefs may prevent any compromise.
“Either he takes office as a moderate or he resigns,” Fonseca said. “He’s been rebelling against the United States his whole life. It’s really hard to back down from that. I think his best chance is asylum or prison or fighting to the death.”
