Venezuelan Interior Minister and long-suspected drug lord Diosdado Cabello on Wednesday accused the Venezuelan Catholic Church of being “fascists in cassocks” for not siding with the regime in condemning America for capturing Nicolás Maduro.
During the latest broadcast of his weekly socialist propaganda show Con el Mazo Dando (“Hitting with the Mallet”), Cabello said:
The fascists in cassocks who accompany La Sayona [anti-socialist opposition leader María Corina Machado] have said nothing about the attacks against the country, nor have they held a single mass for the dead, for those who have been murdered, not even a small mass or a prayer during a mass. Quite the contrary.
Notably, Machado met with Pope Leo XIV this month at the Vatican following the arrest of Maduro.
Cabello, a man actively wanted by the United States on narco-terrorism charges, has long been one of the regime’s most prominent antagonistic figures towards the Venezuelan Catholic Church. He has accused the Church in the past of being an “accomplice” of the United States for not supporting the ruling socialists throughout President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro in the weeks before his capture on January 3. Cabello has repeatedly accused the Venezuelan clergy, without evidence, of allegedly “conspiring” to oust the regime.
The Venezuelan Catholic Church has consistently called for the Venezuelan regime to release the hundreds of individuals that it keeps as political prisoners. ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language division of the Catholic News Agency, reported last week that Venezuelan Catholic priests have accompanied relatives of political prisoners that have kept vigil outside Venezuela’s infamous prisons and torture centers waiting for the release of their friends and family.
In mid-January, Monsignor Polito Rodríguez, Archbishop of Barquisimeto, made public calls for the liberation of all political prisoners in Venezuela during this year’s La Divina Pastora (“Divine Shepherdess”) Catholic procession — which reportedly saw a record-breaking attendance of nearly 4 million participants.
The procession, which held its 168th edition this year, was the first since U.S. forces executed a law enforcement operation in Caracas to arrest Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Monsignor Rodríguez’s remarks infuriated Cabello, who lashed out against him for defending “delinquents.”
Cabello has insisted that the Venezuelan regime does not have any political prisoners when, in reality, local and international organizations have confirmed the existence of hundreds of Venezuelans and foreigners unjustly kept as political prisoners. As the regime’s interior minister, Cabello is in charge of the rogue socialists’ brutally repressive apparatus.
Over the past weeks, Cabello has repeated the false assertion that all of the individuals that the Venezuelan regime has kept as political prisoners are “criminals” and that the ones who have so far been released are “lucky” individuals to whom the ruling socialists have given “another opportunity.”
During Wednesday’s broadcast, he branded those who demand the release of Venezuela’s political prisoners but celebrate the capture of Nicolás Maduro as “hypocrites.”
“I want to clarify that those who are campaigning today for Venezuela’s alleged political prisoners are celebrating because President Nicolás Maduro is being held hostage in the United States. They applaud it, he is a political prisoner, why don’t they ask for him too? It’s hypocrisy,” Cabello said.
President Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post this month that he cancelled a second wave of attacks in Venezuela after the Venezuelan regime agreed to release a “large number” of political prisoners. Alfredo Romero, president of the non-governmental organization Foro Penal, announced on Wednesday that the organization has confirmed the release of 297 political prisoners since January 8, including an unspecified number of new releases that are yet to be confirmed at press time. The number represents roughly a third of the 863 political prisoners that Foro Penal had confirmed by the end of 2025.
Cabello has repeatedly denied that the releases, which he defines as “ex-incarcerations,” are part of a demand from the United States or any other entity, and claimed that they are instead part of a series of “orders” that Nicolás Maduro allegedly issued in late December 2025.
The socialist strongman claimed on his latest episode of El Mazo that 808 individuals have been released as a result of Maduro’s alleged instructions — but also as part of a purported new “peace” initiative by “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez.
“And the other thing I want to clarify is that as of yesterday [Tuesday, January 27], 808 citizens had been released. Each one with their own circumstances, of course, in their own circumstances. There have been nationals and there have been foreigners, they have been released,” Cabello said.
“Now, what we ask is that those who have been released understand two things: First, that when they were there, the opposition sectors did not visit them, they did not look after their families,” he continued. “Second, that their release is due to a plan also presented by our colleague Delcy Rodríguez, which is coexistence and peace.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to the ongoing release of political prisoners in Venezuela during his Wednesday hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the subject of the United States’ policy towards Venezuela following Maduro’s capture. Rubio stated that one of the parts of a transition process towards democracy in the South America country involves the creation of spaces for different voices, which includes the release of political prisoners.
“Part of that is the release of political prisoners, by some estimates up to 2,000. They are releasing them. They are releasing them probably slower than I would like them to, but they are releasing them,” Sec. Rubio said. “And in fact, you’re starting to see some of the people being released beginning to speak out and participate in political life in the country. We have a long ways to go.”
Throughout 2026, Cabello has broadcast new weekly episodes of Con El Mazo Dando in what appears to be a different location and without a live audience, two of the most noticeable differences compared to past broadcasts. Cabello claimed that his show will continue to be on the air and will “continue telling the truth and exposing all the contradictions” of those who oppose the Venezuelan regime.
“I don’t understand. Right now [regime opponents] are watching the program to see if I mention them so they can charge more [money]. That’s the only reason they’re watching,” Cabello said, and stressed, “I do this program first and foremost because it’s a way to keep us communicating and in touch and to tell these truths.”
“Aren’t they [the Venezuelan opposition] defenders of freedom of expression? What am I saying here that is wrong? Have I threatened anyone here on this program? They did, they called for bombings, but they are very sensitive. These boys and girls who called for bombings on Venezuela are now saying, ‘Diosdado looked at me funny and I don’t know what I’m going to do.’ Stop the nonsense,” he continued, claiming, “I am not threatening anyone, I am simply telling the truth.”
In reality, for over a decade Cabello has used Con el Mazo Dando to openly attack, ridicule, criticize, and threaten dissidents of the regime, local and international alike. On Wednesday, he seemed to publicly threaten the local television channel Venevisión for briefly reporting on press remarks issued by María Corina Machado after she met with Rubio in Washington earlier that day.
“Listen to me, Venevisión. Without media hype, her figure fades away. Without headlines, she simply disappears,” Cabello said.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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