Nicolás Maduro and His Increasingly Uncertain Relationship with Venezuela’s Military and Intelligence Service

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Venezuela’s former intelligence chief, Cristopher Figuera, the highest-profile defector from the government of Nicolás Maduro, fled the country after supporting the April 30, 2019 uprising by opposition leader Juan Guaidó, and spent two months in Colombia before his arrival in the United States on June 24, 2019. Figuera served as head of security for the late President Hugo Chávez as well. Figuera told reporters that members of Maduro’s family and his government were engaged in money laundering and corruption. Meanwhile, Maduro told the world of a failed coup attempt, and the former President of Chile and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, met with Venezuelan generals who have been accused of human rights violations by both NGOs and the relatives of political prisoners. She called on the Maduro government to release all political prisoners. Commentators offered analysis, opinion, and conjecture.

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