| Carmen Meléndez | |
| Birth Date: | 3 November 1961 |
| Birth Place: | Barinas, Venezuela |
| Term Start1: | 16 October 2017 |
| Term End1: | 25 October 2020 |
| Predecessor1: | Henri Falcón |
| Successor1: | Adolfo Pereira Antique |
| Office2: | Minister of Office of the Presidency and Monitoring of Government Management |
| Term Start2: | 10 March 2015 |
| Term End2: | 8 September 2015 |
| Predecessor2: | Carlos Osorio |
| Successor2: | Jesús Salazar |
| Office3: | Minister of Interior and Justice |
| Term Start3: | 25 October 2020 |
| Term End3: | 19 August 2021 |
| Predecessor3: | Néstor Reverol |
| Successor3: | Remigio Ceballos |
| Term Start4: | 25 October 2014 |
| Term End4: | 9 March 2015 |
| Predecessor4: | Miguel Rodríguez Torres |
| Successor4: | Gustavo González López |
| Office5: | Minister of Defense |
| Term Start5: | 5 July 2013 |
| Term End5: | 25 October 2014 |
| President5: | Nicolás Maduro |
| Predecessor5: | Diego Molero |
| Successor5: | Vladimir Padrino López |
| Party: | United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) |
Carmen Teresa Meléndez Rivas (born 3 November 1961) is a Venezuelan politician and Navy admiral. She was Minister of Interior and Justice from 25 October 2014 to 9 March 2015,[1] and chief of staff in President Nicolás Maduro's cabinet for nearly six months from March to September 2015. After a governorship in Lara (2017–2020), she headed the Interior Ministry for the second time, from October 2020 to August 2021.[2] [3] [4]
Meléndez was the Deputy Minister of Education of the Ministry of Defense.[5] On July 3, 2012, the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, promoted her to the rank of Vice Admiral.[6] Melendez was the first Venezuelan woman to receive this distinction in after being named Commander of General Staff of the Bolivarian Armed Forces.[7] On 13 October, she was named Minister of People's Power of the Office by President Hugo Chavez and confirmed by national decree on 15 October. On 21 April 2013, during a national radio and television, she was reaffirmed as Minister of Management the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela for the government of Nicolas Maduro.[8] On 3 July 2013 the president of the republic amounts to admiral in chief and July 5, 2013, the appointed Minister of Defense, the first woman to hold both charges in the history of Venezuela.[9]
Meléndez has been sanctioned by several countries and is banned from entering neighboring Colombia. The Colombian government maintains a list of people banned from entering Colombia or subject to expulsion; as of January 2019, the list had 200 people with a "close relationship and support for the Nicolás Maduro regime".[10] [11]
On 9 August 2017, the United States Department of the Treasury placed sanctions on Meléndez for her position in the 2017 Constituent Assembly of Venezuela where she is tasked with the street government command.[12]
Canada sanctioned Meléndez on 22 September 2017 due to alleged "rupture of Venezuela's constitutional order."[13] [14]
On 29 March 2018, Meléndez was sanctioned by the Panamanian government for her alleged involvement with "money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction".[15]