Specifically, Rodríguez ordered the closure of seven public entitiesfour of them created during the management of Nicolas Maduroat the moment prisoner in the United States after he was detained by special forces of that country on January 3 in Caracas.
These missions and foundations depend on the Ministry of the Office of the President, which for a month has been directed by captain Juan Escalona, who was part of Maduro’s security team.
The president in charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, at a government event in the state of Bolívar. (EFE/ Miraflores Palace).
According to the Official Gazette dated February 9 and published on Sunday, the president ordered the suppression and liquidation of the Strategic Center for Security and Protection of the Homeland (CESPPA)created in 2013 to request, organize and evaluate information of interest about “internal and external enemy activity.”
It also removed the New Frontier of Peace Socialist Mission Foundationthe Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement Foundation of the Active Reserve General in Chief Félix Antonio Velásquez and the Robert Serra Youth of the Homeland Mission Foundationalso createtos for Maduro.
Additionally, he disabled the Propatria Foundation 2000 and the Presidential Office of Special Plans and Projects Foundation (OPPPE), both launched by Chávez; as well as the José Félix Ribas Foundation (Fundaribas)created in 1986, during the Government of Jaime Lusinchi.
According to the decree signed by Rodriguezthe goal is reorganize the functioning of the ministry of the Office of the Presidency, considering that the Executive “must adapt its organizational structure to the new social order guidelines and policies.”
“There is a need to make pertinent changes that seek the satisfaction of collective interests.””, he points out.
“A blow to the heart of madurism”
A mural depicting former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is seen during a march of government supporters on International Youth Day in Caracas on February 12, 2026. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP).
/ FEDERICO PARRA
The Venezuelan political scientist Luis Nunes said to The Commerce that the elimination of missions and foundations “It is a very accurate blow to the heart of madurismo… which is now led by Mrs. Rodríguez”.
He argued that “is product of a direct order from the president of the United States, Donald Trumpthrough his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. “There is not the slightest doubt in my mind.”
He added that what Rodríguez decided is exactly what Trump did in the United Stateswhen it eliminated the two large NGOs of the Republican and Democratic parties, after which it closed the offices of USAID.
Nunes also compared the decision with actions taken in other countries such as Argentinawhere the inheritance that Kirchner they left the current president Javier Milei has been dismantled.
“Milei closed all the NGOs of Kirchnerism, which were very similar to the scheme that Chavismo-Madurismo had in Venezuela”accurate.
The analyst stated that the suppression of the missions could generate internal resistance in Venezuelasince—as he said—many of them They functioned as platforms for mobilization and political support of Chavismo built during the governments of Chavez and Ripe. In his reading, the impact will be especially sensitive within the sectors that depended labor or politically on these programs.
About the future, He considered it possible that the next step would be a reduction of the Venezuelan state apparatus. Nunes maintained that there is an excess of public employees linked to political proselytizing tasks. Likewise, he stated that many missions operated under a logic of dependency, citing as an example housing programs where beneficiaries received homes without property titles, which, in his interpretation, kept them tied to political power.
Nunes concluded that the closure of these structures represents a blow to the organizational core of the ruling party and anticipated that its effects will be seen both in the internal balance of power and in the relationship of the Venezuelan government with international actors.
“They were never about helping people.”
The interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez (center), greeting a worker from the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), along with the US Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright (second from left), and the head of the US diplomatic mission in Venezuela, Laura F. Dogu. (AFP).
/ JHONN ZERPA
For his part, the analyst Vladimiro Mujica, president of Venamérica, a civil association based in the United States, told The Commerce that the elimination of Chavista missions and foundations is part of a political strategy of Rodríguez aimed at preserving power in a context of internal and external pressures.
According to him, The decision is connected to transition scenarios proposed by the United States and responds to a calculation of political survival.
In his opinion, These programs were not designed as traditional social policies, but as instruments of social control based on conditional benefits.economic dependence and political loyalty.
“They were never conceived to help people, to help Venezuelans. They were always designed to control the population, whether through hunger, fear, repression or a combination of all these things,” he sentenced.
Mujica assured that the elimination can be interpreted as a signal towards USAalthough he warned that it will also generate tensions within the officialdombecause these structures were part of a network of interests. In that sense, he maintained that “There may be internal resistance, since the state apparatus grew significantly during Chavismo and expanded the mass of people linked to public programs.”
From your perspective, The dismantling of these programs could even facilitate an eventual future transition, by eliminating parallel structures that, he claims, distorted the institutional functioning of the State. However, he warned that “the immediate effect will be social confusion and possible sectoral rejections,” in a process that he described as “a political maneuver calculated to balance internal and external pressures as the government attempts to consolidate its position.”
The analyst He considered it unlikely that the next step of the Executive would be to reduce the number of public employees, because “that sector constitutes a key mechanism of political control”. Instead, it foresees that “the dismantling of the missions could be accompanied by new compensation schemes, such as bonuses or other extraordinary payments generated by the income from the sale of oil.” According to their interpretation, this would allow old structures to be replaced with different mechanisms that maintain the economic dependence of the population.
A young man walks past a mural painted on the wall of a house by members of the La Piedrita Collective in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the 23 de Enero neighborhood of Caracas, on September 7, 2023. (Photo by Yuri CORTEZ / AFP).
/ YURI CORTEZ
Missions and foundations removed
- New Frontier of Peace Socialist Mission Foundation. It was created in 2015 by Maduro to coordinate social programs, humanitarian assistance and productive projects in border areas of Venezuela, especially in areas affected by smuggling, irregular migration and the presence of armed groups. It also articulated civil-military operations and local diplomatic actions.
- Robert Serra Youth of the Homeland Mission Foundation. Created in June 2013 by Maduro. It functioned as a state platform for youth political and social organization linked to Chavismo. It promoted ideological training, community volunteering, social brigades and electoral participation of young people aligned with the Bolivarian project.
- Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement Foundation of the General Active Reserve in Chief Félix Antonio Velásquez. Created in August 2016 by Maduro. It brought together retired military sympathizers of Chavismo for political support activities, doctrinal training and comprehensive defense advice. It acted as a space for articulation between the retired Armed Forces and the civil apparatus of the government.
- Propatria 2000 Foundation. Created in 2000 by Hugo Chávez. Its objective was to develop strategic social and productive projects, mainly aimed at popular communities. It operated as an executor of special presidential programs and a channel of public financing.
- Presidential Office of Special Plans and Projects Foundation (OPPPE). Created in 2010 by Chávez. Designed, coordinated and executed priority projects directly from the Presidential Office, without going through ministries. Its function was to accelerate works or programs considered strategic for the Executive.
- José Félix Ribas Foundation (Fundaribas). Created in 1986 by President Jaime Lusinchi. Later incorporated into the Chavista state scheme to promote educational, cultural and social initiatives aimed at vulnerable sectors, with emphasis on citizen training and community projects.
- Strategic Center for Security and Protection of the Homeland (CESPPA). Created in 2013 by Maduro. It was an intelligence agency attached to the Presidency in charge of collecting, processing and classifying strategic national security information. It coordinated data from civil and military organizations and had the power to declare information as reserved or confidential.
