Venezuela’s Armed Forces: Loyalty, Fracture, and What Comes Next

No transition in Venezuela will succeed without a clear-eyed reading of the armed forces — not as a single actor but as a set of competing interests.

Loyalty is not uniform

Some officers have built careers on the current arrangement. Others have watched colleagues arrested, sidelined, or promoted over them.

The key question is not whether the military will “allow” a transition, but which parts of it will want one.

That is a question only Venezuelans can answer.