Taken Question: Appointment of Venezuela's Defense Minister

Question: Does the State Department have any comment on the appointment of General Henry Rangel Silva as Venezuela’s Defense Minister?

Answer: Our concerns about Rangel Silva are well known and of long standing. In 2008, the Department of Treasury designated Rangel Silva under the Kingpin Act for materially assisting the narcotics trafficking activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a narco-terrorist organization.