CARACAS, (MILLAT+APP/AFP) – Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday named a new vice-president, who would take over as head of state if Maduro were removed from office this year as the opposition demands.
Maduro told a televised cabinet meeting that he had named Tareck El
Aissami, 42, a powerful state governor, to the post.
El Assaimi is governor of the violent northern state of Aragua and
served as interior and justice minister under Maduro’s late predecessor Hugo Chavez.
“I have appointed Tareck El Aissami executive vice-president of the
republic so that he can take up the role from 2017 to 2018 with his youth,
experience, commitment and courage,” Maduro said.
The center-right opposition has been demanding a popular vote on removing Maduro from office.
It blames him for an economic crisis that has prompted shortages of food and medicine and deadly riots.