Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
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Chavez brings fresh allies into Venezuela cabinet

Friday, January 5, 2007

by: Christian Oliver and Ana Isabel Martinez

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters): Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez has appointed a new vice-president, finance minister and justice minister, bringing fresh allies into the Cabinet to strengthen his grip on government.

There was no change at the Oil Ministry, with Rafael Ramirez continuing to steer energy policy in the fourth-biggest crude exporter to the United States.

"The changes are meant to revitalise the struggle against corruption and bureaucracy and help the push toward socialism," Chavez told state television on Wednesday night.

Rodrigo Cabezas, head of parliament's finance commission, told Reuters on Thursday he was replacing Nelson Merentes at the helm of the Finance Ministry.

He faces rampant liquidity growth and 17 percent annual inflation, factors spurred by generous welfare spending which Cabezas supports.

"These changes reveal an intention from the president to forge a much more homogeneous and much more hardline government," opposition political analyst Carlos Blanco told Venezuela's Union Radio.

Chavez has vowed to strengthen his anti-US leftist drive after winning a landslide reelection last month.

He has promised to mold the disparate parties in his government into a single ruling party, sparking fears that he is seeking a Cuban-style regime. He denies any suggestion that he is eyeing a communist model.

VIOLENT PRISONS

In firing Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacon on Wednesday night, Chavez referred to Venezuela's runaway crime and a "painful tragedy" at Uribana jail in the western state of Lara, where 16 prisoners died in a gang fight this week.

Six prisoners transferred from Uribana after the violence were shot and stabbed to death on being moved to a new prison.

"It is the result of failings in internal security and infrastructure," Chavez told state television.

Chacon will be replaced by Pedro Carreno, a Chavez loyalist who heads a parliamentary judicial commission and who played a leading role in the president's reelection campaign.

Chavez gave no reason for firing political veteran Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, 77, who has often been one of the president's toughest advocates.

"The decision to relieve Jose Vicente of his post was not easy for me because he is like a star pitcher and I regard him with the same respect and affection as a son would a father," Chavez said.

Chavez last month publicly scolded Rangel and Chacon for bungling diplomatic protocol at a ceremony marking the death of 19th-century Venezuelan founding father Simon Bolivar, Chavez's inspiration.

Rangel will be replaced by Jorge Rodriguez, a Chavez ally who was a director of Venezuela's electoral commission before a 2004 recall referendum against the president.

Rodriguez, a psychiatrist, is idolised by many of Chavez's followers because of his father, who died after being tortured by the army for alleged involvement with left-wing guerrillas in the 1970s.

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