Nicolas Maduro shows that the electoral page in Venezuela, for him, has already turned. One month before the presidential elections, yesterday he announced changes in half of his executive cabinet, with particular emphasis on the ministries in the economic area. He also named a new president of the state-owned company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), key industry of national finance.

According to the Venezuelan president, this is a new team “that will allow us to navigate this new era (…) and continue on the path of comprehensive recovery of Venezuela, towards where we will arrive, to a powerful Venezuela.”

Among the 16 new appointments, the change of roles of the vice president stands out, Delcy Rodriguezwho was confirmed in that position, but will now also head the Ministry of Petroleum. She replaces Pedro Tellechea, who until yesterday played a dual role as head of that portfolio and also as president of PDVSA.

Rodríguez, until today Minister of Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade, enters the oil portfolio replacing Pedro Tellechea, who was in office since March 2023 after the resignation of Tareck El Aissamiarrested for corruption.

Now, Tellechea, a retired military officer, will be in charge of the Ministry of Industry and National Production, where he has the task of “seeking investments” so that no sector “is left without producing,” Maduro ordered.

Hector Obregon, also a retired military officer, was appointed to head PDVSA. He was the vice president of the state-owned company and previously held positions in the Ministry of Finance. Maduro entrusted him with increasing national production to two million barrels of crude oil per day, after his predecessor left office without being able to meet the goal of reaching one million. “We are building a new economy, not dependent on oil revenue, but we have the largest reserves in the world,” said Maduro, who heads a country whose oil revenue depends on crude oil for 97%.

The other important change was in the Ministry of the Interior, where Admiral Remigio Ceballos is leaving the post and will not take up another one. The uniformed officer has been presented in recent years as a key member of the military establishment. In his place will now be the so-called “number two” of Chavismo, Diosdado CabelloThe deputy for the ruling PSUV party returns to that position twelve years after his last time in the Cabinet, when Hugo Chávez governed Venezuela.

Cabello himself recalled that when Chavez appointed him vice president there were protests in the country. In 2002, while in that position, he briefly assumed power when a coup d’état that deposed Chavez was beginning to be defeated. “Diosdado helped consolidate peace in the stages of conspiracy. He knows a lot about peace,” Maduro said in the middle of an activity with community movements.

From the long list of appointments, there was one that remained stable: Vladimir Godfather LopezThe general in chief of the Army has been in office for an uninterrupted decade as Minister of Defense, the person with the longest tenure in that position in the country’s history.

Padrino, who should have retired in 2016 but remains active, has become a key pillar of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, which in recent weeks has made at least half a dozen declarations of loyalty to Nicolás Maduro as commander in chief.

On the other hand, two governors are leaving their regional posts to take on ministries, while Maduro said that the country is heading towards “the great stage of popular self-government.” That is why he said that the changes in his Cabinet seek to change the way of governing from being an “air government” to one of “direct and popular” democracy closer to the people.

“It is the stage of construction of territorial socialism, of communal democracy, of direct democracy of the new system of Government,” said Maduro. The Venezuelan president ordered Rodriguez and the Minister of Communes and Social Movements, Angel Pradocall for “multiple work days” to carry out “community assemblies” in order to “listen to the people about the changes they want.”