The military is a powerful political actor in Latin America. Moreover, Latin American armed forces generally understand their role beyond the strictly defensive, usually extending into economic development, nation-state formation, and maintaining internal order. This chapter examines the role of the military in two Latin American experiences seeking to transform the status quo: the revolutionary government of General Juan Velasco Alvarado in Peru between 1968 and 1975, and the Bolivarian revolution in power in Venezuela since 1999. Building on work by Middlebrook and Palmer (Military government and political development: Lessons from Peru, 1975) to explain the successes and limits of Velasco’s mobilization task, and ultimately achieve its revolutionary goals, the chapter analyzes the characteristics of the Bolivarian civil-military model and assesses the transformation imposed on the national armed forces to fit this new model. It sheds light on the factors that reinforce and undermine military-led attempts to achieve socio-political transformation. Furthermore, the chapter highlights the need to consider the historical role of the military in analyzes of civil-military relations in Latin America in order to fully capture the symbiotic involvement of armed forces in regional politics.