Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday (March 21) appointed a new oil minister, Pedro Tellechea, to replace the powerful Chavista leader Tareck El Aissami who resigned the day before, splashed by a corruption scandal.
Pedro Tellechea, a mechanical engineer and army colonel, had been at the head of the state oil company PDVSA since January, having previously led its petrochemical subsidiary Pequiven and the state-owned aluminum company Venalum.
“I met with the president of PDVSA, engineer Pedro Tellechea, and appointed him the new Minister of Petroleum, as part of the process of transformation that the industry is going through.
Maximum efficiency, comrade!”
, Nicolás Maduro announced on Twitter.
Pedro Tellechea replaces Tareck El Aissami, who resigned on Monday after an anti-corruption operation targeting several of his close collaborators.
At least 19 civil servants have been arrested in Venezuela as part of this anti-corruption "crusade", which notably affects the huge PDVSA.
Targeted by sanctions from the United States, Tareck El Aissami was one of the most powerful leaders in the country, and was considered a key man in the oil sector which he mastered perfectly.
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