Tareck el Aissami, who until now held the position of Oil Minister, announced his resignation in the midst of the investigations that have been carried out in the last week for corruption in PDVSA, which would mean an embezzlement of about 3,000 million dollars.
“By virtue of the investigations that have been initiated into serious acts of corruption in PDVSA, I have made the decision to present my resignation as Minister of Petroleum, with the purpose of fully supporting, accompanying and backing this process,” he said in a statement. Twitter.
“In the same way, in my capacity as a revolutionary militant, I ‘place’ myself at the disposal of the PSUV leadership to support this crusade that President Nicolás Maduro has undertaken against the anti-values that we are obliged to fight, even with our lives,” he added. .
At the moment, Maduro has not referred to the resignation of El Aissami either to accept or reject it, nor to appoint a new Oil Minister.
Tareck el Aissami
The official was in charge of the hydrocarbons portfolio since April 2020, the date from which he promised to raise national oil production to more than 2 million barrels per day.
At the time of his appointment, El Aissami was already subject to sanctions from the United States, which placed him among one of the most wanted men and linked him to drug trafficking and terrorist organizations. In fact, in 2019, the Drug Control Administration (DEA) announced that it would offer up to 10 million dollars for leads that would allow the arrest of the Venezuelan official of Lebanese origin.
The reward was confirmed in March 2020 when his image appeared on DEA posters that also offered rewards for various Chavismo officials, including Nicolás Maduro, for whom $15 million was offered.
The faces and names of Vladimir Padrino López, Defense Minister; Maikel Moreno, at that time president of the Supreme Court of Justice; Diosdado Cabello, first vice president of the PSUV; Clíver Alcalá, a former military officer who rebelled against Maduro and after the publication of the DEA posters decided to turn himself in to the United States Justice; Hugo “el pollo” Carvajal, former director of the Dgcim, who also tried to dissociate himself from Maduro and is being arrested in Spain where he is trying not to be extradited to the United States.
