Tareck El Aissamiformer vice president and former right-hand man of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, this week joined an already extensive list of ministers of Chavista governments persecuted by the justice system of his country for alleged acts of corruption.
El Aissami is the fourth oil minister of the administrations of Hugo Chávez Frías and Maduro, also with powers at the head of the state oil company PDVSA, which have been accused of damaging national assets for profit in the last 20 years.
This is the list of former oil ministers named in recent years by senior officials of the justice system and members of the political leadership of Chavismo.
Rafael Ramírez (2004-2014)
Rafael Ramírez, former Venezuelan Oil Minister, speaks to the press at the United Nations headquarters, in 2016.
He served 11 years as Minister of Energy and Mines and served for a decade as president of Petróleos de Venezuela, between the governments of Hugo Chávez Frías and Nicolás Maduro, in its beginnings. A director of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Ramírez also served as foreign minister for a few months, in 2014, before being appointed by the ruling party as ambassador to the United Nations. He held the position until 2017, when he said he was removed because of his “opinions” on post-Chávez Chavismo.
Ramírez is credited with the oil negotiations for operations in the Orinoco Belt, which Chávez wanted to turn into the jewel in the crown of the Venezuelan industry. He was considered one of the leaders of Chavismo until his removal from the UN.
A commission of the Parliament elected in 2015, with an opposition majority, accused him in 2016 of leading a corruption scheme that generated property damage of more than 11,000 million dollars. Institutional Chavismo independently joined the accusation.
In 2022, the then Minister of Petroleum and now detained by justice, Tareck El Aissami, accused Ramírez of embezzling at least $5 billion when he presided over PDVSA.
Two days later, Attorney General Tarek William Saab confirmed that he was wanted on several charges, including embezzlement, money laundering and criminal conspiracy.
Ramírez is in exile in Europe and, from there, his complaints are common that the Maduro government has committed political and constitutional “deviations” to the point of “ceasing to be socialist and much less Chavista.”
In 2022, called to revoke to President Maduro. Months later, prosecutor Saab demanded his extradition from Italy to Venezuela.
Eulogio Del Pino (2014-2017)
Venezuela’s then oil minister, Eulogio Del Pino, speaks to the press in Vienna, Austria, in November 2016.
He held the Venezuelan Ministry of Petroleum for three years during the government of Nicolás Maduro. He came to take charge of the presidency of the state-owned PDVSA in unison.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab confirmed the arrest of Del Pino in December 2017 for his alleged connection with the “sabotage” of the joint company of Venezuelan and Russian capital Petro Zamora, in the west of the country, which recorded estimated losses of 15 million of barrels between 2015 and 2017, according to what the official told the press.
The prosecutor’s version denounced that Del Pino had altered oil production figures and had participated in corrupt operations that caused property damage of more than 500 million dollars.
According to Saab, detained former managers of the Venezuelan subsidiary Citgo accused him of being involved in these acts of corruption. Among the crimes charged in 2021 were fraudulent embezzlement and obstruction of freedom of commerce.
Nelson Martínez (2017)
Nelson Martínez, Venezuela’s oil minister, with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and then-Chancellor Delcy Rodríguez, in Tehran, in February 2017.
With extensive studies in chemistry, physics and technological administration in Venezuela, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, he headed the Ministry of Petroleum for just eight months, between January and August 2017, before being removed from office.
In December, he was arrested in the same operation where former Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino was also arrested. He was also accused of falsifying production figures, illegal contracts and acting “against the assets of the Republic.”
He was kept imprisoned at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), in Caracas. In the custody of the Venezuelan State, he died due to the worsening of “a serious chronic illness,” according to the Public Ministry. Diosdado Cabello, director of the governing party, explained that he died due to heart problems.
Tareck El Aissami (2020-2023)
Tareck El Aissami, former minister of several executive portfolios in Venezuela, speaks to the press in Caracas, in September 2022.
Lawyer and politician of Syrian and Lebanese descent, Tareck El Aissami held the Venezuelan oil ministry between April 2020 and March 2023, when the existence of a corruption plot in the national hydrocarbon industry was reported.
He was a deputy and governor of the state of Aragua, with the support of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Also, he served as vice president and right-hand man in the economic area of President Nicolás Maduro. He was sanctioned in 2017 by the United States government for his alleged participation in money laundering and international drug trafficking.
Attorney General Saab confirmed his arrest this month in Caracas and accused him of leading corrupt operations, which included altering the country’s exchange rate for profit. Also, he accused him of having ties to a political “mafia” residing in the United States.
Along with former minister Simón Zerpa and businessman Samark López, El Aissami was accused of allegedly committing the crimes of treason, appropriation of public assets, use of relationships or influences, money laundering and association.
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