The essential and urgent reconfiguration of the Ministry of the Interior that must be implemented in Venezuela during the political transition should focus on simplifying the complex and dysfunctional organizational structure of the ministry and its affiliated bodies.
Military and security experts have claimed to Venezuela Política that a functionality crisis exists due to the excessive complexity of the ministerial entity and its unconstitutional use for political, economic, and criminal purposes.
A deep restructuring plan for the Ministry of the Interior—currently called the Ministry of Popular Power for Interior Relations, Justice, and Peace—is proposed, arguing that its current configuration is inefficient and has deviated from its constitutional duties. This proposal suggests reducing bureaucracy by eliminating strategic defense regions and returning control of state and municipal forces to local authorities.
Reconfiguration of the Ministry of the Interior: Current Situation
Sources in security and defense have analyzed the current context of the Ministry of the Interior and concluded that the entity suffers from a systemic dysfunction that hinders the fulfillment of its institutional objectives.
Critical points identified include:
- Structural Dysfunction: The complexity of the current organization and its affiliated entities has resulted in extensive bureaucracy that fails to produce tangible results.
- Deviation of Functions: The institution is used unconstitutionally for purposes unrelated to citizen security, specifically in political, economic, and criminal dimensions.
- Bureaucratic Excess: The presence of multiple non-functional dependencies clutters administration, justifying the need for simplification and purification of the ministerial apparatus.
Reconfiguration of the Ministry of the Interior: The New Structure
The central proposal for the reconfiguration of the Ministry of the Interior calls for immediate review and profound structural changes aimed at technical specialization, decentralization of state and municipal police forces, as well as optimizing criminal investigation systems under the operational command of the Public Ministry.
It is urgent and imperative to eliminate inefficient bureaucratic dependencies, such as the Strategic Defense Regions (REDI) in the civil sector, and to ensure that leadership positions are filled exclusively by specialists in each area.
The plan includes the creation of three specialized vice ministries responsible for national police, internal policy, and disaster risk management. Furthermore, a fundamental change involves redesigning the criminal investigation police by granting operational control to the Public Ministry to ensure more technical judicial processes.
There is also a proposal to centralize academic training and citizen data management to enhance the fight against crime.
The Three Vice Ministries
The reconfiguration proposes an organization based on three fundamental vice ministries, each with clearly defined competencies and specialized personnel.
Vice Ministry of the Police System
This vice ministry focuses on the direct management of security forces and the training of human talent.
• National Police: Under its leadership, specialized directions are organized into:
- Special Police Operations.
- Citizen Security.
- Land Transit Corps.
- Immigration and Border Control.
- Anti-drugs and Public Order.
• Police Decentralization: State Police must be administered by the Governorships, and Municipal Police by the Mayors, through their respective Citizen Security Secretariats.
• Training and Control:
- The Experimental University of Security (UNES) remains in charge of training human resources for the entire Ministry.
- A National Internal Affairs Directorate is created as a body to investigate internal cases.
Vice Ministry of Internal Policy, Prevention, and Security
This vice ministry focuses on criminal investigation, prevention, and the management of citizen data.
• Criminal Investigation: The criminal investigation police (current CICPC) must be reviewed, purified, and reorganized. Fundamentally, the Public Ministry should exercise operational control over this investigative body.
• Prevention and Registration: This includes the National Crime Prevention Directorate and the National Police Records and Archives Directorate (current Police Investigation and Information System, SIIPOL).
• Information Integration: The new records direction will have access to information from multiple institutions to strengthen criminal investigations, including access to information institutions like SAREN, SUDEBAN, INTT, SENIAT, SAIME, INAC, INEA, INTI, courts, and the Public Ministry. Additionally, entities grouped under this vice ministry include Interpol, INTT, SAIME, and SAREN.
Vice Ministry of Risk Management and Civil Protection
Focused on emergency response, disaster management, and technical monitoring services.
- Operational Directions: Civil Protection and Disaster Management, Shelters for Emergencies, and Firefighters.
- Technical and Scientific Entities: INAMEH and FUNVISIS.
Reforms to Achieve Efficiency and Meritocracy
The proposed reconfiguration of the Ministry of the Interior emphasizes that institutional efficiency can only be achieved through the elimination of parallel structures and professionalization of service.
Elimination of the REDI
The proposal suggests the removal of the Strategic Defense Regions (REDI) within the structure of security institutions and civil service (CICPC, PNB, Firefighters, and Civil Protection) due to their excessive bureaucratic burden without providing real operational results.
Job Profiles
As a corrective measure against politicization and inefficiency, the proposal specifies a mandatory suitability requirement: all positions must be filled by specialists in their respective areas of competence.
The transition from the current MPPRIJP to the Ministry of the Interior is based on three pillars:
- Purification: Elimination of elements and structures related to unconstitutional activities and stagnant bureaucracy.
- Correct Operational Control: Return of operational command of criminal investigations to the Public Ministry.
- Decentralization: Return of local police control to states and municipalities for more direct and accountable citizen security management.
Watch in Sin Filtros “Comando Sur en Venezuela: security shift, Brazil, and Chinese crime”: