Venezuelan Interior Minister — and long-suspected drug lord — Diosdado Cabello appeared defiant on the latest episode of his socialist show Con el Mazo Dando (“Hitting with the Mallet”), calling for unity against the “threats to the homeland.”
The interior minister also accused the United States of allegedly “murdering” people without connection to the events that led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro which, according to him, left over 100 dead and a similar amount injured. He did not offer proof for this claim.
Cabello is considered the most powerful and dangerous strongman among the top brass of the Venezuelan socialist regime, and presently controls the regime’s brutally repressive apparatus. For years, and much like the now captured socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, Cabello has been actively wanted by U.S. authorities on narco-terrorism charges.
For over a decade, he has hosted Con el Mazo Dando (“Hitting with the Mallet”), a weekly socialist propaganda show aired on Venezuelan state media where Cabello openly attacks dissidents, ridicules local and international critics of the regime, and leaks wiretapped telephone conversations, among other actions. The show is usually broadcasted in front of a live audience made up by regular citizens and military officials.
Wednesday’s episode, in addition to being 2026’s first, appeared to have been broadcast from a different location than the show’s main set and was devoid of a live audience and some of the regime paraphernalia that Cabello normally surrounds himself with. Cabello reportedly did not issue his usual insults and mockeries against dissidents and critics of the regime, unlike in past regular editions of El Mazo.
Despite the apparent change in scenery, Cabello nevertheless maintained his hardline defiant stance against the United States, marking a start contrast from the seemingly pro-U.S. stance adopted in recent hours by VTV, the socialist regime’s flagship propaganda channel.
VTV, under the control of “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez, has openly celebrated the announcement of talks between Venezuela and the United States for the sale of Venezuela oil to America — an unprecedented change after decades of a daily, highly antagonistic anti-U.S. narrative espoused by VTV.
Throughout Wednesday’s show, El Mazo‘s website summarized, Cabello lashed out against the United States for the law enforcement operation that led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, accusing U.S. forces of having “murdered people who had no connection whatsoever with the situation or with conflicts” during the operation.
According to Cabello, members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), Cuban soldiers, and “members of Venezuelan families,” were among the over 100 killed during the operation. Cabello did not present any evidence to substantiate his “murder” accusations. At press time, the Venezuelan socialist regime has not publicly disclosed details on the exact amount of casualties and damages caused during the U.S. operation to capture Maduro.
“Our homeland demands that we be more united than ever, because the threats are not only against Chavismo, they are against our homeland,” Cabello said, while emphasizing that “Venezuela will continue to stand strong and this people will continue to stand strong.”
“The world knows that this nation has risen from adverse situations, such as that earthquake in which [Founding father Simón] Bolívar said, ‘If nature rebels, we will fight against it and make it obey us,'” he continued, and stressed that, “the people know what they have to do,” and that Venezuelans “have always managed to move forward, no matter the circumstances.”
Although El Mazo‘s purportedly “award wining” YouTube Channel was suspended in 2024, state-owned and regime-affiliated YouTube channels streamed Wednesday’s show.
Cabello claimed that, there has not been a “single demonstration of support for the barbaric attack carried out by the United States” in Venezuela and that Venezuelan people are “in the streets, demanding respect” for Maduro and Flores and calling for their release.
He further claimed that the United States has “international intelligence mechanisms and is aware of the cohesion of the Venezuelan people and that they do not support and will never support attacks against their homeland.”
“Don’t be fooled again, no one here is celebrating the attack,” Cabello said, claiming that no country “has been as democratic as Venezuela.”
In reality, Cabello is at the forefront of a mass intimidation and repression campaign against Venezuelans that has seen several citizens arrested for celebrating the downfall of Nicolás Maduro. The intimidation campaign has seen the involvement of Venezuelan law enforcement officials and members of the Colectivos armed socialist gangs.
José Antonio Colina, president of the non-government organization Venezuelans Persecuted Politically in Exile (VEPPEX), stressed to Breitbart News this week that Cabello’s intimidation campaign is part of the “dynamics and repressive characteristics” of the Venezuelan regime.
“The fact that Diosdado is at the head of the repressive apparatus is extremely worrying, as he directs the strategies of the Venezuelan tyranny,” Colina said. “It is no secret that he had already mentioned that if there was an intervention, they would go against the population.”
El Pitazo reported that Wednesday’s episode of El Mazo ended at 10:51 p.m. (local time), one hour and nine minutes “earlier than usual.” The outlet pointed out that Cabello had warned in previous episodes of the show that “not a single drop of oil would be given to the United States if they bombed Venezuela.”
“Cabello promised that the next broadcast would be different and closed with a ‘we will win,'” El Pitazo reported.
In contrast to the continued hardline stance shown by Cabello on Wednesday, “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez appeared on a VTV broadcast alongside her brother and head of the National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez promising to pass a series of sweeping reforms to Venezuelan legislations that, according to the two socialist siblings, will see changes to Venezuela’s penal, societal, economic, electoral, and “direct democracy” codes, among other areas.
Delcy Rodríguez also reportedly vowed to implement reforms to Venezuela’s electrical system law for a “process of updates and improvements” in the country’s notoriously dysfunctional power grid. The announcement comes hours after President Donald Trump announced that Venezuela will only purchase “American made products” from the proceeds received from the new oil deal between both countries — including equipment for the nation’s power grid and energy facilities.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.