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Weekly Report - 30 November 2017 (WR-17-47)

VENEZUELA: Military tightens grip on power

With crude production reaching its lowest level for three decades, and the state-run oil company Pdvsa saddled with crippling debt, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro took the decision this week to put control of the country’s oil industry in the hands of one man: Major General Manuel Quevedo. Both Nelson Martínez, the president of Pdvsa, and Eulogio del Pino, the oil minister, make way for Quevedo, whose qualifications for this dual role appear to rest upon his ability to enforce discipline. Quevedo is a national guard general. His appointment comes amid a savage purge of senior Pdvsa officials, scores of whom have been arrested in the last three months, and coincides with Maduro’s elevation of three further military figures to his cabinet.

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