Venezuelan Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami at an OPEC+ meeting in December 2022. Photo: Twitter/@TareckPSUV.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami reported that he submitted his resignation “in order to fully support, accompany and back” the investigation process “on serious acts of corruption in PDVSA.”
El Aisammi wrote on Monday, March 20, that in his “capacity as a revolutionary militant, I place myself at the disposal of the PSUV leadership to support the quest undertaken by President Nicolás Maduro against the anti-values that we are obliged to fight, even with our lives.”
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The statement was published via El Aissami’s social media hours after Joselit Ramírez’s arrest by the National Anti-Corruption Police. Ramírez, who was president of the National Superintendency of Cryptoactives (Sunacrip), is accused of being behind the disappearance of $3 billion from the sale of oil. This occurred a few hours after the arrest of deputy Hugbel Roa, who was implicated in “acts of corruption in the oil industry.”
De igual manera, en mi condición de militante revolucionario, me coloco a disposición de la dirección del PSUV para apoyar esta cruzada que ha emprendido el Presidente @NicolasMaduro contra los antivalores que estamos obligados a combatir, hasta con nuestras vidas.
— Tareck El Aissami (@TareckPSUV) March 20, 2023
El Aissami was appointed as minister for oil in April 2020, acting as the head of Venezuela’s most important ministry for nearly three years. He has held several top positions in public office since Hugo Chávez’s presidency, being Chávez’s interior minister from 2008 to 2012 before being elected governor of Aragua state from 2012 until 2017. El Aissami was then Venezuela’s vice president from 2017 until 2018 and minister of industries from 2018 until 2020, when he was appointed oil minister.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
