Venezuela: Chavez's Names Ally as Defense Minister President Hugo Chavez has named a powerful general questioned by Venezuela's opposition and Washington as his new defense minister. Gen. Henry Rangel Silva will take over the ministry from Gen. Carlos Mata Figueroa. Rangel was head of the Strategic Operational Command of the Armed Forces. He angered Venezuela's opposition when he suggested in 2010 that the armed forces would not accept an electoral loss by Chavez. In 2008, the U.S. Treasury Department put Rangel and three other members of Chavez's inner circle on the Foreign Narcotics Kingpins list. It said they supplied the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia with arms and aided drug-traffickers. Chavez announced his appointment Friday during a ceremony in the city of Guanare.