MIAMI – A proposal was recently submitted by Venezuelan military officials to fundamentally reorganize the nation’s armed forces, according to information published by local Venezuelan news outlet, Venezuela Política.
The proposal recommends the appointment of civilian authorities to oversee the “re-institutionalization process” of the Venezuelan Ministry of Defense, which has been tainted with political influences of the Bolivarian Revolution for more than two decades following the rise of Hugo Chávez.
Officials are advising the government to help direct the nation’s defense sector to a return to its founding constitutional framework of institutional autonomy after years of internal fragmentation and revolutionary ideology that turned the armed forces into an arm of the socialist regime in Caracas.
The phase out of political biases and overtly political interests will make way for a renewed discipline “based on rigor, ethics and professional merit,” say sources.
The process will also emphasize the importance of eliminating “parallel structures” like the Bolivarian Militia, which is accused by human rights organizations of carrying out orders from the executive branch to crack down on political opposition groups.
The transition will also extend to state security forces to root out the criminal networks and corrupt financial interests that have used the nation’s military and national police units as their personal protection services (a grotesquely undemocratic characteristic symptomatic of highly statist regimes).
The proposal advises a national disarmament decree, a complete streamline of security hierarchies, and a purge of local and state police leadership in an effort to restore public order to the streets of Venezuela and reduce the influence of the armed government-linked paramilitary groups like the infamous colectivos, who terrorize the residents of the nation’s capital.
“The goal is for the institution to recover its purpose and prestige”, said one source close to the Venezuelan military apparatus.
The report from Venezuela Política highlights that the country’s stability during the recent period of political transformation–following the capture of Nicolás Maduro–will depend largely on the government’s ability to rein in the capabilities of the irregular militia groups that have been accustomed to operating with almost complete impunity beyond any acceptable standard of conventional military command structures.
The proposals from the Venezuelan military command have the hallmarks of foreign democratic counsel, as analysts speculate that much of the reforms expected to take place, especially among the military apparatus, will be done under the supervision of the United States government, which has involved itself extensively in the internal affairs of the transitioning Venezuelan government.
