General de Brigada (r), MSc en Ciencias Militares (Estrategia) CEO

Retired Brigadier General Antonio José Rivero González is a military leader, engineer, and tireless defender of democracy and human rights. Born in Los Teques, Venezuela, he graduated from the Military Academy (1984), earned a degree in Electronic Engineering (Communications) from the FAN Polytechnic (1997), and a Master’s degree in Military Science (Strategy) from the Army’s Higher School.

During his 26 years in the National Armed Forces (FAN), he rose to the rank of Brigadier General, holding key positions such as Chief of Engineering and Operations (DICOFAN), Chief of Telecommunications (Military House), Chief of Staff (5th Jungle Infantry Division), National Director of Civil Protection (2003-2008), and President of the Andean Committee for Disaster Prevention (CAPRADE, 2005-2006). He modernized risk management and led the response to the Vargas tragedy.

In 2010, he voluntarily retired in protest against Cuban infiltration of the Venezuelan Armed Forces (FAN), joining the opposition. A founding member of Popular Will (2011), he was arbitrarily detained in 2013 for 23 days (17 of which he spent on hunger strike) on fabricated charges. The UN declared his detention arbitrary (Opinion No. 47/2013). Persecuted, he went into exile in Miami in 2014.

Since 2015, he has been a political-military analyst, warning about electoral risks and vulnerabilities within the FAN. As CEO of the Echoes of Freedom Foundation (founded in 2025, Miami), he leads global efforts to preserve the memory of human rights violations in Venezuela and Latin America through documentaries, testimonies, and art, giving voice to freedom. A man of strong family values, a guide and protector of his siblings during their upbringing, and a devout Catholic, his motto, “God, Life, and Country,” summarizes his call for a just and peaceful transition. In exile, he remains a beacon of truth: “Truth is the ultimate weapon against ideological oppression.”

His courageous, well-documented, and profoundly human story embodies the central spirit of a documentary series: that of a man who chose truth and freedom, even at the risk of his life. He is the screenwriter, star, and producer of “The General and the Mark of the Beast.”