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CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday named a top official targeted by US sanctions as oil minister as the market for the country’s vital export is in tumult.
Maduro tasked Tareck El Aissami -- a vice president for the economy who has been indicted in the United States on drugs trafficking charges -- with “restructuring and reorganisation” of the OPEC member’s crippled oil industry. Maduro also named Asdrubal Chavez, cousin of the late president Hugo Chavez, as interim president of the state oil firm PDVSA.
El Aissami replaces Manuel Quevedo, a general given the twin responsibilities of oil minister and PDVSA chief in 2017. (DPA)
Maduro tasked Tareck El Aissami -- a vice president for the economy who has been indicted in the United States on drugs trafficking charges -- with “restructuring and reorganisation” of the OPEC member’s crippled oil industry. Maduro also named Asdrubal Chavez, cousin of the late president Hugo Chavez, as interim president of the state oil firm PDVSA.
El Aissami replaces Manuel Quevedo, a general given the twin responsibilities of oil minister and PDVSA chief in 2017. (DPA)
