Published at: 04/01/2026 12:13 PM

The Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) categorically condemned the kidnapping of the constitutional president Nicolás Maduro Moros and the first lady, Dr. Cilia Flores de Maduro, as reported by the sectoral vice-president of Defense and National Sovereignty, general in chief Vladimir Padrino López, who read an official statement in which he described the act as a cowardly crime against the institutions and peace of the Venezuelan people.

“We fully support the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Decree of the State of External Concussion throughout the national territory. The FANB will continue to use all its capabilities for military defense, the maintenance of internal order and the preservation of peace,” says part of the statement.

The following statement is in full:

BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA

OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF PEOPLE'S POWER FOR DEFENSE

The Bolivarian National Armed Forces categorically rejects the cowardly kidnapping of the citizen Nicolás Maduro Moros, Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, our Commander in Chief, and of his wife, the First Lady Dr. Cilia Flores de Maduro; an act that took place yesterday, Saturday, January 3, after murdering a large part of his security team, soldiers and innocent citizens in cold blood.

Also, in response to the decision of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice dated January 3, 2026, by which citizen Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez, Executive Vice President of the Republic, is appointed to assume, as MANAGER, all the powers, duties and powers as President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; and in strict compliance with the provisions of our Magna Carta, the Organic Law on States of Exception and the Organic Law on National Security; we fully support the previously signed Decree of the State of External Concussion throughout the national territory. In this same sense, the Bolivarian Government will guarantee the country's governance, and our institution will continue to use all its available capacities for military defense, the maintenance of internal order and the preservation of peace.

Therefore, in the entirety of the national geographical space and in perfect popular military police fusion, we activated the Full Operational Arrangement, in order to integrate the elements of National Power into the mission of confronting imperial aggression, forming a single combat block to ensure the freedom, independence and sovereignty of the Nation.

The FANB is the United Liberation Army of the 21st Century!

Chávez lives!... The Fatherland continues! Independence and Socialist Homeland!... We will live and we will overcome! The Venezuelan Sun rises in the Essequibo! Independence or Nadal! Always loyal... never traitors!

Caracas, January 4, 2026

VLADIMIR PADRINO

General in Chief