Diosdado Cabello

Diosdado Cabello is a powerful Venezuelan political figure accused of involvement in drug trafficking and corruption. 

He has been Minister of Interior Relations, Justice, and Peace since August 2024. He is also vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela – PSUV). Since the arrest of then-President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, Cabello is one of the top Chavista leaders still in power.

History

Diosdado Cabello was born in the state of Monagas in 1963. As a teenager, he was a militant in Bandera Roja, a radical leftist organization. In 1987, he graduated from the military academy with the rank of second lieutenant in the army, where he ranked second in his class. 

Cabello became known for his role in the failed coup d’état against then-President Carlos Andrés Pérez, which Hugo Chávez orchestrated in February 1992. The then-army lieutenant was imprisoned for two years.

After Chávez’s election as president in 1998, Cabello was guaranteed high government positions. During the 2000s, he was director of the National Telecommunications Commission, infrastructure minister, vice president for a brief period, and even interim president for a few hours during the coup d’état against Chávez in 2002. He was also governor of the state of Miranda between 2004 and 2008. 

Cabello was among the main candidates expected to replace Chávez after he announced he was suffering from cancer in 2013. But it was eventually Nicolás Maduro who was chosen by the ailing president, whose death was announced on March 5 that year. 

From 2012 to 2016, Cabello led the National Assembly until the opposition won a majority in elections. He then occupied a seat in the National Constituent Assembly, designed to limit the mandate of the opposition in the legislative branch. He was appointed president of this government entity from 2018 until its dissolution in 2020.

The former military officer has hosted a political television program broadcast on national channels since 2014. In it he frequently talks about conspiracies against the Chavista regime from the political opposition.

After the disputed presidential elections of July 28, 2024 in which Maduro was declared the winner amid accusations of fraud, Cabello was appointed Minister of Interior and Justice. The position gives him control over the country’s police and intelligence agencies. 

On January 3, 2026, US authorities arrested Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores during a military operation in Caracas and brought them to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. Cabello was named in the same indictment that charged Maduro, but he was not targeted by the operation and remains in Venezuela as one of the regime’s most powerful figures.

Criminal activities

Cabello has been accused of being part of the Cartel of the Suns, a porous and fluid network of trafficking groups embedded in the Venezuelan armed forces. 

He has also been investigated for several corruption cases. The US Justice Department accused Cabello, along with Maduro and other high-ranking government officials, of acting as leaders of the Cartel of the Suns in 2020. According to court documents, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC) coordinated with Cabello and other officials to ensure the safe transit of cocaine through Venezuela in exchange for bribes. In addition, Cabello and others allegedly provided the FARC with weapons, according to the allegations.

The State Department offered a $25 million reward for information leading to Cabello’s capture. 

In 2018, Cabello was sanctioned by the European Union, Switzerland, and Panama for being considered high-risk for money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 

He was also sanctioned by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for alleged links to money laundering, corruption, and drug trafficking. 

Cabello has also been investigated for his relationship with the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which was implicated in corruption scandals in the region. According to former Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz, Cabello allegedly accepted close to $100 million in bribes from the construction company. In addition, according to the investigative portal Armando.info, Odebrecht allegedly financed Cabello’s campaign for the governorship of Miranda in 2008. Spain’s prosecutor’s office also investigated the alleged use of family companies in the country to collect illicit payments.

Geography

Active and retired political and security force sources consulted by InSight Crime claim that Cabello has influence nationwide, including in areas of the state of Bolivar, a key region for illegal mining and gold smuggling, as well as Apure, Monagas, and Zulia – key drug trafficking and smuggling states.

Around 2017, Cabello facilitated air shipments of cocaine to Barinas state, from where they were taken to Venezuelan shores, US prosecutors alleged.

Allies and enemies

Cabello has long been one of the most powerful political players within Venezuela’s government, and over the years he has had shifting political alliances. 

Cabello has several relatives in power. His brother José David Cabello Rondón is the head of the customs and tax administration; his cousin Alexis Rodríguez Cabello is the current head of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia – Sebin) and the point person for a territorial dispute with Guyana.

Diosdado Cabello’s wife, Marleny Contreras, is a member of the National Assembly for the state of Monagas, and his daughter, Daniella Cabello – sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for anti-democratic acts – is president of the Country Brand Foundation, whose objective is to promote the country’s economic interests at an international level. She also heads the Venezuelan Export Promotion Agency created by Maduro in September 2024 to diversify the country’s export offers. 

His brother David Cabello, his wife Marleny Conteras, and businessman Rafael Sarría, who is one of her main frontmen, were also sanctioned by OFAC for being part of a corruption network.

Cabello was one of the founders of the Bolivarian Circles, groups of armed civilians created by Chávez to suppress political dissent, which served as a prelude to similar successor groups known as colectivos. 

He led the formation and deployment of the Cuadrillas de Paz (Cupaz), now known as Uppaz – another set of armed actors that help the regime maintain political and social control. 

Cabello has been one of the main contacts for FARC dissidents within the government and allegedly facilitates their operations through his networks in regions such as Apure, according to sources consulted during fieldwork.

Another ally was the former governor of Zulia state, Omar Prieto, who was implicated in extortion, gasoline smuggling, and the expropriation of private properties in that region.

Multiple sources consulted in the field by InSight Crime claim that Cabello has met with members of the Sindicato de Las Claritas, a mining gang operating in Las Claritas, Sifontes municipality in Bolivar state.

Although one of the regime’s most powerful figures, Cabello’s control is not absolute, and he has developed rivals within Chavismo. Delcy Rodríguez, who was sworn in as acting president following Maduro’s arrest, and her brother Jorge, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, are both significant political forces, while defense minister Vladimir Padrino López wields major influence over the country’s armed forces.

Prospects

Cabello’s role as Minister of Interior and Justice gives him significant leverage over illegal economies. He remains a powerful figure, but the January 2026 arrest of former President Nicolás Maduro shows that those at the top of the Venezuelan regime are not as secure as they may have previously believed. Although the US authorities appear willing to work with Delcy Rodríguez, Cabello seems to still be in their sights.