Venezuela’s military has been getting stronger since the days of Hugo Chavez

When General Néstor Reverol was appointed Venezuela’s new home secretary, much of the world interpreted it as an ominous sign of growing military influence.

The appointment was a strange one in itself: just one day after Reverol was indicted in the US on charges of drug trafficking, president Nicolás Maduro called him “an exemplary officer”, “a brave man”, and the ideal candidate to stake out the mafioso gangs supposedly holding Venezuela to ransom.

This was the latest in a growing number of military appointments to Maduro’s government.

Only a fortnight before, the incumbent defence minister, General Vladimir Padrino López, was given control of a national distribution network that oversees the administration of food, medicine and basic goods in an attempt to ease the country’s notorious shortages.

http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuelas-military-stronger-since-the-days-of-hugo-chavez-2016-8