The reason why Diosdado Cabello and the Venezuelan military haven't made a ove to dethrone Maduro is the Cuban presence in Venezuela. The Cubans have had many years to establish a very sophisticated eavesdropping and spy network. They have material to blackmail politicians, especially the Chavistas who are so prone to corruption and theft. And they have the agents in place to take action and kill plotters if they start getting serious. This Maduro's main support comes from the Cuban dictatorship. And this is why we see Maduro travel so much...he goes to Cuba for instructions in short side trips as he moves around. Why meet in Cuba? Because the Cubans think they have tight and secure sites to hold these discussions. What the Cubans don't know is whether the USA has deep moles but can't use the information, because if it does then the Cubans would know there's a breach.
Maduro is an infantile liar. In these circumstances, if he's aware such a meeting took place, he evidently received the information via a Cuban mole. Somebody like the Ice Queen. The revelation would put the USA security apparatus on its toes and the mole would likely be uncovered. This tells me the tale is an invention, another lie by Maduro who seems to be turning out to be a pathological liar who doesn't even care if his lies hang together or not.
Venezuela today is in chaos, inflation seems to be headed towards 40+%, and it's evident the totality of the regimen's actions are causing a lot of discontent. I wouldn't doubt there are tens of thousands of individuals each quietly putting in action their own personal resistance to the regime. This can range from actual individual acts of neglect on the job to actual sabotage. There's also the distraction factor. A professional or technical individual working in a setting which requires concentration and paying attention to details is less likely to perform well when he or she sees the country descending into hell, when they have to live with power cuts, lack of water, food scarcity, high crime rates, and the stress of living in a lawless society. People under such stress don't work very well.
I think the Cubans who pull Maduro's strings failed to realize when they made their plans that Venezuela was a much more sophisticated country than Cuba. It is more modern, has much better infrastructure...and this requires a lot more attention. The ongoing emigration of qualified professionals and technical personnel also hurts destroy capability-they can't be replaced by Cubans. And the tendency to name supervisors who are chavistas and not necessarily qualified for the job adds another layer of problems on top.
Finally, there's the problem Venezuela faces paying its bills. Outside companies and contractors are not offering their services because they realize Venezuela doesn't pay. Right ow there's a major crisis brewing because Schlumberger, the largest provider of sophisticated oilfield services, is owed nearly $1 billion USD and the government isn't paying. I heard Schlumberger is starting to make plans to pull employees out of the country. And this will likely deal the oil production sector a heavy blow.
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