Unlike other years, changes within the strategic regions and the integral defense operational zones are gradually becoming known. With the appointment of MG Pedro González Ovalles to the Western REDI, his replacement within the Barinas ZODI was also known.
The National Armed Forces are being reconfigured in small pieces this year amidst “challenging times” and alleged acts of “sabotage and destabilization” by “stateless agents,” as the Minister of Defense himself, Vladimir Padrino López, has called the opposition leaders who are demanding the results of the presidential elections of July 28.
The changes within the operational zones (ZODI) and the strategic regions of integral defense (REDI) were postponed until August by the ruler Nicolás Maduro due to the activation of the Plan República for the presidential elections, whose results announced by the CNE unleashed a wave of protests and the lack of recognition by the opposition and part of the international community.
On Saturday, August 17, the appointment of a new commander for the Carabobo Integral Defense Operational Zone (ZODI) and five brigades of the country was announced. Two days later, it was made official that Major General Pedro Esteban Gonzalez Ovalles will assume command of the Western REDI, which groups together the states of Zulia, Lara and Falcón.
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In a publication of the FAN’s Strategic Operational Command, it was learned that the transfer of command ceremony took place at the Vicente Landaeta Gil air base in Lara state. González Ovalles’ appointment was made official in the Ministry of Defense resolution number 056509, dated August 16, 2024.
Major General González Ovalles takes over from Admiral Alejandro Rafael Díaz Espinoza, who was appointed to the post in July of last year.
The strategic commander of the FAN, GJ Domingo Hernández Lárez, asked the new head of the Western REDI to “continue to enhance” the civil-military union “and the legacy of the father of the country Simón Bolívar, of our heroes and heroines of the country, our aborigines and that enduring legacy of the supreme commander Hugo Chávez in these new responsibilities entrusted by the superior command in favor of the defense of the sovereignty of the Republic.”
But who is the new commander of the Western REDI? The recently promoted González Ovalles graduated from the Military Academy in 11th place in the 1994 class “General in Chief José Antonio Páez II”.
In July 2010, he was appointed by then Vice President Elías Jaua as General Director of Comprehensive Security of the Vice Presidency of the Republic. He was also Superintendent and in 2019 appointed directlyr of the Military Academy of Troop Officers “CJ Hugo Chávez Frías”, located in Fort Guaicaipuro, Miranda state.
In August 2022 it was appointed by Minister Padrino López as Secretary General of the Bolivarian Military University of Venezuela. A year later, his change to ZODI Barinas was made official, which was now in the hands of Major General Pablo Ernesto Lizano Colmenter.
“This important position not only reflects his dedication and commitment to the defense of our country, but also his vast experience and leadership in the military field,” wrote the commander general of the Army, José Antonio Murga Baptista.
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