PSUV's Hugo Cabezas Arrested in Anti-Corruption Campaign

A presentation hearing of 13 new detainees for corruption in the Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana and Cartones de Venezuela has been held, in which former PSUV leader Hugo Cabezas is one of the detainees.

This information was released on Wednesday, March 5, by the minister for communication and information, Freddy Ñáñez, via social media. He added that Pedro Maldonado, Edgar Sánchez, and Felipe Contreras from the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), among others, were also presented.

Hugo Cabezas served as a PSUV deputy until his appointment as president of Cartones de Venezuela, a Venezuelan state company, in 2018, which is the position he held when he was arrested. Cabezas is a lawyer and political analyst, graduated from the Universidad de los Andes (ULA). Between 2002 and 2003, he was the Movimiento V Republica (MVR) national youth leader; from 2003 to 2006, he was appointed head of National Office for Migration and Identification (ONIDEX), which was the predecessor for the Autonomous Service of Identification, Migration, and Foreign Issues (SAIME).

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According to the information presented by Ñáñez, all detainees are implicated in corruption schemes in the CVG and Cartones de Venezuela. These arrests are added to those made in recent weeks by the National Anti-Corruption Police (PNCC).

President Nicolás Maduro has maintained his drive to lead these operations, highlighted that the fight against corruption must be deepened in order to clean up the institutions of the Venezuelan state. A press conference was held within the next few hours by the Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, in which he informed the population regarding these arrests and the progress of the fight against corruption throughout the national territory.

So far, officials linked to corruption schemes in PDVSA, CVG, Cartones de Venezuela, the Orinoco Oil Belt, municipal mayors’ offices, and judges linked to the judiciary have been detained.

Venezuela’s Public Ministry: 51 People Detained on Corruption Charges So Far

Hugo Cabezas’ journey
Besides his advancement from MVR leader to SAIME, Cabezas also held the position of Minister for the Office of the President during the presidency of Hugo Chávez in 2007. Between 2008 and 2012, Cabezas was elected Trujillo State governor, but was questioned by the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) on allegations of corruption.

In 2013, he was appointed director of the Alfredo Maneiro Editorial Complex (CEAM), and in 2014 he once again held the position of Minister for the Office of the President for a few months, under the presidency of Nicolás Maduro. A year later, he was appointed head of the Autonomous National Printing Service and Official Gazette (SAINGO); and finally, on October 29, 2018, he was appointed General Manager of Operations and Administration by the board of directors of the company Smurfit Kappa Cartones de Venezuela, a position he held until his arrest today.

In 2021, Cabezas was a PSUV pre-candidate for the position of governor of Trujillo, facing Hugbel Roa, who has also been recently arrested within the framework of the anti-corruption legislation; Cabezas won PSUV primaries elections with 46.08% of the vote, as compared with 43.86% gained by Roa at the time. However, the PSUV instead exercised its legal capacity to directly appoint a candidate, resulting in the appointment of Gerardo Marquez as the PSUV candidate for governor, who ended up being elected.

Like Tareck El Aissami and Hugbel Roa, Cabezas was part of the Utopia 78 university movement, a group that came to preside over the Federation of University Centers under the leadership of El Aissami in ULA.

(RedRadioVE) with Orinoco Tribune

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/AU