It is becoming commonplace for the heads of barracks or military units to receive orders to express their loyalty to the revolution or against María Corina Machado via video. This has just occurred with the announcement by the US Attorney General regarding the increase in the reward for Nicolás Maduro, and what the fight against Mexican and Venezuelan drug trafficking organizations represents. The videos that officers are required to record are distributed mainly by the Strategic Operational Commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (Ceofanb), GJ (Ej) Domingo Antonio Hernández Lárez.
Some officers, such as the head of the ZODI Anzoátegui, General Norber Torres Ortiz, included in his message not only the reward for Nicolás Maduro, but also mentioned the ministers of Defense, Interior and Justice, GJ Vladimir Padrino López and Lieutenant Diosdado Cabello, respectively. MG (Ej) Johan Alexander Hernández Lárez, commander general of the Army and brother of the Strategic Operational Commander (Ceofanb), said that they are “soldiers with a cord of heroism” who were moved by military heroes of the past, assuring that the FANB “rejects the senseless and desperate statements of the North American government” against Maduro.
He assured that the FANB “is not a mercenary organization, we are not blackmailable, nor will we accept insolent ultimatums from foreign terrorist powers that seek to impose their agenda,” emphasizing that they will defend Maduro’s integrity. “Marcos Rubio, are you looking for Maduro? Here he is,” says MG Wilfredo Alexander Medrano Machado, Commander of the Guayana Integral Defense Region (REDI), in a staging, uniformed and with a war weapon in his hands, while pointing to other soldiers who identify themselves as part of the 993 and 995 Battalions of the Special Forces Unit.
Attacks against the prosecutor
Major General Hibrahim Ricardo Sirgo Herrera, head of the Comprehensive Defense Operational Zone (ZODI) Lara, surrounded by the military and police commanders of the region, expressed rejection of what Pam Bondi said, of whom he said that"she addressed the glorious Venezuelan people in a cowardly and insolent manner," showing "obedience, subordination and commitment" to Maduro. From the Libertador Air Base (BAEL), the Commander General of the Military Aviation, M/G Lenín Lorenzo Ramírez Villasmil, expressed regarding the reward to Maduro that the US prosecutor"in a vile manner, exceeding her powers, which she does not have, and making use of outdated imperial schemes, intends to impose a reward."
In his opinion, what Prosecutor Bondi said are accusations"full of lies, aggravated by the creation of surreal false accusations that seek, in their narrative, to create nonexistent links between our top leaders and drug trafficking operations." General Ramírez points out that the United States' "constant schemes" are a violation of international law,"qualified as mythomaniacal aggression."
Brigadier General Darwin Andrés Crespo Rojas, director of the National Guard Military Academy, surrounded by GNB officers and cadets, said for his part that “we reject the statements of the Attorney General of the fascist North American government,” a country that he accused of trying to “give us lessons in democracy, when its current President systematically disrespects his own laws and governs capriciously.” Brigadier General Crespo says that “they accuse us of leading a drug cartel, disguising with this farce the harsh reality of their decadent society in which thousands of fellow citizens die daily from the consumption of narcotic and psychotropic substances.”
For the ZODI La Guaira, Vice Admiral Gregorio Antonio Briceño Paniagua said, in a short message, that the “Dantesque statements of the US Attorney” were “practically a threat” against Maduro “We do fight against this scourge. We have seized more than 51 tons of drugs so far this year 2025, we have destroyed laboratories, clandestine runways, dismantling the narrative of an empire that uses us as a political weapon”.
“Disrespectful and buffoonish statements by the US Attorney,” described Attorney General José Martínez Campos, head of the Los Andes REDI, what Prosecutor Bondi said. General Martínez's words were the same ones repeated by other ZODI officers. Four uniformed officers, standing next to a map of Venezuela and behind them a welcome sign from the “Táchira State Coordination of the Environmental Guard,” remained impassive while one of them delivered a message describing the announcement of the US reward as “interference.”
