Movim • ‘The real ringleader’: the Venezuelan security chief with a $25m bounty on his head

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‘The real ringleader’: the Venezuelan security chief with a $25m bounty on his head

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 13 January 2026

Security chief Diosdado Cabello is nicknamed the Octopus for good reason, with the regime’s fate said to rest with him

His nickname is the Octopus, he hosts a TV show called Hitting it with a Sledgehammer and many Venezuelans consider him the real power in the land.

Diosdado Cabello runs the regime’s security apparatus and is perhaps the most feared, reviled and, in some quarters, revered government figure, with influence to rival that of the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez.

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‘The real ringleader’: the Venezuelan security chief with a $25m bounty on his head

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 13 January 2026

Security chief Diosdado Cabello is nicknamed the Octopus for good reason, with the regime’s fate said to rest with him

His nickname is the Octopus, he hosts a TV show called Hitting it with a Sledgehammer and many Venezuelans consider him the real power in the land.

Diosdado Cabello runs the regime’s security apparatus and is perhaps the most feared, reviled and, in some quarters, revered government figure, with influence to rival that of the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez.

chevron_right

‘The real ringleader’: the Venezuelan security chief with a $25m bounty on his head

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 13 January 2026

Security chief Diosdado Cabello is nicknamed the Octopus for good reason, with the regime’s fate said to rest with him

His nickname is the Octopus, he hosts a TV show called Hitting it with a Sledgehammer and many Venezuelans consider him the real power in the land.

Diosdado Cabello runs the regime’s security apparatus and is perhaps the most feared, reviled and, in some quarters, revered government figure, with influence to rival that of the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez.