Venezuela arrests a former oil czar and
accuses him of working with the US to undermine the industry
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[October 22, 2024]
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's top prosecutor on Monday
announced the arrest of a former oil minister and accused him of working
with the U.S. government to undermine the industry that drives the
country's economy.
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, left, speaks with Pedro Tellechea,
the oil minister and president of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA,
during a May Day event in Caracas, Venezuela, May 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariana
Cubillos, File) |
Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced on Instagram the
detention of Pedro Tellechea, who became Venezuela's oil czar in
January 2023 following the resignation of one of President
Nicolás Maduro's closest allies under a cloud of corruption
allegations.
Saab said people in Tellechea's inner circle were also detained,
but he did not name them. He did not mention any specific
charges.
Tellechea's tenure as head of Venezuela's most valuable industry
ended in August, when Maduro reassigned his duties to the vice
president and named him minister of industry and national
production. Maduro on Friday replaced him by appointing a close
ally who was pardoned by U.S. President Joe Biden last year as
part of a prisoner swap.
As oil minister, Tellechea was responsible for the state-owned
crude company Petróleos de Venezuela, commonly known as PDVSA.
Saab accused Tellechea of “the delivery” of PDVSA's automated
command and control system "to a company controlled by the
intelligence services of the U.S., thus violating all legal
mechanisms and our national sovereignty.”
Saab described the command system as PDVSA's “brain." He did not
offer any evidence to support the accusations.
Tellechea became oil minister following the resignation of
Tareck El Aissami, who had helped Maduro and his government
devise a structure to evade international economic sanctions. El
Aissami left amid corruption investigations that eventually led
to his arrest.
Maduro on Friday appointed Alex Saab as minister of industry and
national production. The new Cabinet member returned to
Venezuela a free man in December after being in custody since
2020, when authorities in Cape Verde arrested him on a U.S.
warrant for money laundering charges. U.S. prosecutors long
regarded him as a bag man for Maduro.
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