Vladimir Padrino: Venezuela's military power broker

Named by his father after Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, Padrino was a high school pupil when a friend asked him to tag along to a Military Academy entrance exam. He told the friend he was "crazy," Padrino, now 62, recalled in a 2021 interview with state channel VTV. "I ended up going with him, took the exam. My friend didn’t get in and I did." It would change the course of his life -- ultimately leading to his position as a key powerbroker in Venezuela. His support will prove critical...