Venezuelan security kingpin Diosdado Cabello vows revenge after U.S. seizes Maduro
Venezuela’s powerful interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, is seeking to rally loyalists within the armed forces and the ruling apparatus, urging them to mobilize and vowing revenge against those who might have been involved in the U.S. operation that led to the capture of former strongman Nicolás Maduro, sources with direct knowledge of the situation say.
Cabello, one of the most feared figures of Venezuela’s ruling elite and a central pillar of the country’s security and intelligence apparatus, has been sending voice messages directly to military officers and regime figures personally loyal to him, calling on supporters to take to the streets in defense of the socialist revolution.
“I’m out on the streets, I’m out on the streets — let’s go to the streets, as much as we can, in the states, mobilize our people,” Cabello said in one voice message obtained by the Miami Herald.
In another message, he lashed out at those responsible for the U.S. raid that ended Maduro’s rule.
“These rats attacked, and they are going to regret it for the rest of their lives,” Cabello said. “Let’s reorganize now, assess where the attacks were, the damage we have, and keep moving forward — always forward, always united. Let’s push ahead.”
As Cabello issued his calls to mobilize, pro-government paramilitary groups known as colectivos moved swiftly to assert control over parts of Caracas. According to citizen reports, the groups set up checkpoints and carried out patrols across the capital, stopping vehicles, reviewing the identities of occupants and checking conversations and photographs on their cell phones.
Dozens of civilians — some with their faces covered by balaclava masks, others wearing dark glasses and armed with Russian-made rifles — conducted surveillance operations along major thoroughfares such as Boyacá Avenue, better known as the Cota Mil, which connects the western and eastern sectors of the capital.
At least 7 journalists and press workers were arrested on Monday in Caracas, most of them in the vicinity of the National Assembly. “Three were released and we urge the authorities to release all of them immediately,” said the National Union of Press Workers. The operations unfolded as Chavista leaders oversaw the installation of a new National Assembly inside the legislative palace.
Cabello’s moves, combined with the visible deployment of armed civilian groups, underscore growing uncertainty over whether the post-Maduro leadership, now formally headed by interim President Delcy Rodríguez, can realistically pursue reconciliation with Washington and cooperate with the Trump administration on stabilizing the country and guiding it toward an eventual democratic transition.
Both Cabello and Maduro have been charged by U.S. prosecutors with leading the so-called Cartel of the Suns, an alleged narcotrafficking network embedded within Venezuela’s military and political leadership. Cabello controls large segments of the country’s repressive apparatus, including intelligence services and armed civilian groups, making him a potential spoiler in any attempt to reset relations with the United States.
The United States government has offered a $25 million reward for information leading to Cabello’s capture.
On Monday, Venezuelan authorities quietly expanded the legal scope of the country’s State of Foreign Commotion — a state of emergency activated early Saturday that restricts certain civilian rights — by adding an article authorizing the search and arrest of individuals accused of promoting or supporting the foreign armed incursion.
That same day, a video circulated on social media showing an alleged leader of a Caracas colectivo vowing “revenge” against those celebrating Saturday’s U.S. offensive and warning that “the United States is not going to re-enter for now.”
Tensions escalated further Sunday when Venezuela’s armed forces accused U.S. troops of killing members of Maduro’s security detail “in cold blood” before capturing the embattled leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, during a pre-dawn raid in Caracas on Saturday.
In a nationally televised address, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López described the operation as a “kidnapping,” claiming it followed “the cold-blooded murder of a large part of his security team — soldiers, men and women, and innocent civilians.”
Media reports have placed the death toll from the operation at around 40 people, though Venezuela has not reported a specific number. The U.S. operation involved intense bombardment of key military and government installations before Maduro was seized.
U.S. officials said the raid followed weeks of planning and featured a coordinated electricity blackout, missile strikes, explosions and the use of drones, helicopters and fighter aircraft operating in Venezuelan airspace. According to those accounts, American troops stormed a fortified bunker-like complex and extracted Maduro from the site.
Maduro, who along with his wife faces U.S. charges that he ran a vast narco-trafficking network from the presidency, was flown out of Venezuela and arrived Saturday afternoon at Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York. On Monday, he made his first court appearance in New York.
Televised images showed Maduro and Flores being transported Monday morning under heavy armed guard by helicopter and armored vehicle from a detention facility to a federal courthouse, marking the first time a sitting Venezuelan leader has been brought to the United States to face criminal charges.
A Miami Herald correspondent in Caracas contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 5, 2026 at 1:04 PM.
