President Nicolás Maduro made promotions and decorations on the 20th Anniversary of the CEOFANB

Published at: 26/09/2025 05:29 PM

Colonels Francisco Arias Cárdenas, Wilmar Castro Soteldo and Francisco Ameliach were promoted to Brigadier Generals this Friday by the Commander in Chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces and President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, during the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Strategic Operational Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (CEOFANB), together with the Military High Command and other military authorities.

“I give you this sword to carry along the roads, through neighborhoods, fields (...) This sword represents the highest glory of the peoples of Peru, of the peoples of South America, for their liberator. It turns out that their Liberator, Simon Bolivar, is our father and we, like his children, will continue to play the role of liberators of South America on stage and in the terrain that touches us tomorrow and always. Congratulations”, were the words of the National President to the military.

Along with the First Lady, Cilia Flores, the Sectorial Vice President of Defense and Sovereignty and Minister of Popular Power for Defense, GJ Vladimir Padrino López, and the Strategic Operational Commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, GJ Domingo Antonio Hernández Larez; the Venezuelan Head of State also awarded six CEOFAM Cross decorations. In his First Class, GD Héctor Reyes Aguado, Joint Director of Operations of the CEOFANB; and Colonel Emilio Álvarez, Head of Communication Management of the CEOFANB, received recognition.

In its second class, with the CEOFAM Cross, Captain Pierangela María Ibarra Cesaro, Adjunct to the Command Post of the Integral Aerospace Defense Command (CODAI); and Captain Ángel Graterol Contreras, Audiovisual Department of Communication Management of the CEOFANB, were awarded. In their third class, the 3rd Sergeant Major, Víctor Rojas Suárez, Deputy to the Military Geographic Space Station of the Directorate of Cartography and Geography; and Corporal Segundo Isaí Guillén Márquez, Plaza del 397 General Portable Anti-Aircraft Defense Missile Group in Chief J. José Félix Ribas, received the award.

As guarantors of peace, two decades ago, the vision of Commander Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías gave life to the Strategic Operational Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces to be the institution that promoted the new Bolivarian Military Doctrine. In this context, the National President considered it appropriate to carry out these promotions and decorations.

To close these awards and promotions, President Nicolás Maduro issued some moving words of congratulations to the generals. “On this sensitive 20th anniversary, of such patriotic fervor that is sweeping the country today, I want to quote in a very special way the three moral, upright generals who founded this process of military revolution and the Bolivarian Revolution.”

To Generals Francisco Javier Arias Cárdenas, Wilmar Soteldo and Francisco Ameliach, and with them to thank as if I were in front of Chávez, right now for everything he gave me, everything he gave us and everything he gives us.

“To see his face is to see Chávez, Chávez alive, present, combatant and you his companions at all hours of all the struggles, of all the vicissitudes that summarize a wisdom that we know how to appreciate and I can say, in the first person, that I know how to appreciate the wisdom of all the fields we have traveled together,” said the Commander in Chief of the FANB.

Mazo News Team