Career
Baduel was instrumental in restoring Chávez to power after the 2002 Venezuelan coup d"état attempt, and was described by the British Broadcasting Corporation as "one of a small group of officers "co-governing" Venezuela with Mr Chavez". He was commander-in-chief of the Venezuelan Army from 2004 until July 2007. In 2007 Baduel left his position as Defense Minister.
Chávez later said that he had removed Baduel from office because he had been unable to explain a string of irregularities.
After retiring as Defense Minister, he emerged in 2007 as an opposition leader, when he publicly broke with Chavez and announced his opposition to the constitutional changes proposed in the 2007 constitutional referendum (defeated via referendum) that would have strengthened the powers of the presidency and removed the restriction on public officials being re-elected. Baduel "emerged as a prominent voice of dissent" concerned that Chavez was taking Venezuela down a "road to ruin" and becoming authoritarian.
He became the highest-ranking military person opposed to Chavez"s constitutional changes that would "concentrate power in the executive". In October 2008, a "military prosecutor said he was responsible for about $14 million that disappeared during his tenure as defense minister" in a transaction involving the purchase of military equipment.
According to The New York Times, "Chávez has moved against a wide range of domestic critics, and his efforts in recent weeks to strengthen his grip on the armed forces have led to high-profile arrests and a wave of reassignments".
On 2 April 2009, Baduel was arrested at gunpoint. Baduel said that his arrest was politically motivated with Chávez allies admitting he was in private. According to The Guardian, he says "his crime was to realise – and declare – that the president was a tyrant".
The 2009 Human Rights Watch report mentions Baduel as an example of political persecution.
Former United States. President Jimmy Carter expressed concern about the case, and Steve Ellner, a Venezuelan historian and analyst, noted that "courts overwhelmingly targeted opposition figures. In May 2010, Baduel was convicted by a military court of corruption and sentenced to seven years and eleven months in prison.
Baduel says he is innocent. From Ramo Verde prison, Baduel sent a Twitter message to family members, saying, "God is with us and divine justice is always active".