VENEZUELA: Maduro Appoints Military Man As Chief Of PDVSA And Oil Minister

(RTTNews) - Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro appointed Major General Manuel Quevedo as Minister of Petroleum and chairman of the state-owned oil company, PDVSA. The change occurs only three months after the appointing of Nelson Martínez as PDVSA's chairman and Eulogio Del Pino as Oil Minister.

The Venezuelan President made the announcement during his "Sundays with Maduro" television show. According to him, Quevedo will have the task of "promoting the restructuring of the state-owned oil company after the disclosure in the last few weeks of at least seven corruption cases that threaten the nation's heritage."

Maduro also announced that a national assembly would take place on Tuesday to endorse a support, recovery and transformation plan for the company.

Also, Maduro announced other changes to his cabinet. José Gregorio Vielma Mora will be the new Minister of Foreign Trade and International Investments, while the general Ildemaro Villaroel Arizmendi will take the Housing Ministry and the Major General Carlos Osorio will be the Minister of Transportation.