Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has appointed Tareck El Aissami, a former interior minister, as his No. 2. El Aissami could find himself leading the ailing country amid opposition plans to oust Maduro from office.
Image: Reuters/M. Bello
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Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday named former Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami as his vice president.
The appointment comes as part of a cabinet reshuffle in which Maduro also lined up a new economy czar and oil minister.
Despite boasting the world's largest oil reserves, falling oil prices coupled with a massive budget deficit have seen Venezuela plunge into deep recession. The economic crisis has prompted severe shortages in basic amenities, such as food and medicines.
Venezuela also has the world's highest inflation rate, estimated by the International Monetary Fund to have reached 475 percent by the end of 2016.
El Aissami previously served as governor of Aragua, considered the most dangerous state in South AmericaImage: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gutierrez
Maduro's potential successor?
Maduro told his cabinet in a televised address Wednesday that he had appointed El Aissami as "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."
The vice presidential post holds extra significance this year. Venezuela's center-right opposition has demanded a popular vote to remove Maduro from office, blaming him for the current economic crisis engulfing the country. Should the opposition be successful, El Aissami would likely assume the presidency until the next election, scheduled to take place in 2019.
Under constitutional rules, the opposition has missed the deadline to spark a fresh election through a referendum. Therefore, any election held after January 10 this year would allow Maduro to pass the presidency on to a hand-picked successor.
El Aissami: 'Courage' in the face of adversity
El Aissami, who is of Syrian and Lebanese ancestry, served as interior and justice minister under former President Hugo Chavez, before being elected governor of the violence-plagued central state of Aragua in 2012. He replaces Aristobulo Isturiz, who had been Maduro's vice president since January 2016.
"I told him, Tareck, get to work day and night working for the security of the people," Maduro said Wednesday. The president also called on his No. 2 to wage a "fight against criminals, the fight to clean up the regional police forces, the fight against far-right terrorists."
Opposition lawmakers have accused El Aissami of participating in drug trades. El Aissami has rejected the claims, calling those who accuse him traitors seeking to harm Venezuela.
Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble
Lufthansa has canceled service to Caracas as Venezuela's economic turmoil worsens. The country is one of the world's largest oil producers, but plunging prices have brought inflation to 180 percent in the past year.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EFE/M. Gutiérrez
Hyperinflation bites into economy
Hyperinflation has made doing business in Venezuela untenable for many domestic and foreign firms. With the currency dropping, the government has made it difficult to convert bolivars into US dollars.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Ismar
Food shortages
Food shortages have become pervasive, spurred on by hyperinflation. Empty store shelves have become all too common across Venezuela.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Queuing up to buy food
Food shortages mean that people have to wait in line to buy essential food items at select locations. Here people line up outside a supermarket in the poor neighborhood of Lidice, in Caracas.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/R. Schemidt
Gathering signatures
Opposition leaders launched a petition drive to collect signatures for a recall referendum. They needed 200,000 signatures, or 1 percent of the electorate, but they got 1.8 million voters to sign.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gutierrez
Green light for petition
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles shows journalists that the National Election Council has given permission for the referendum to go ahead. But President Nicolas Maduro's government is trying to delay the vote.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gutierrez
Pushing for referendum
Protesters have taken to the streets, demanding that the referendum go forward.
Image: Reuters/M. Bello
Students protest
Students have also taken to the streets to demonstrate. They are protesting both the overall economic stagnation and also the government's efforts to delay the referendum.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/R. Schemidt
Severe drought
A devastating drought has exacerbated Venezuela's problems. What was once a vast reservoir, held back by a hydroelectric dam, is now little more than a series of mud puddles.
Image: Reuters/C.G. Rawlins
Drought wreaks havoc
The country depends on the Guri Dam - one of the world's largest - for a significant portion of its electricity. While the reservoir is turning to desert, citizens endure daily black outs, and government offices open just two days a week to save electricity.
Image: Reuters/C.G. Rawlins
Health care suffers
Oliver Sanchez, 8, holds a sign that reads "I want to heal, peace, health" during a protest against the shortage of medicines in Caracas. Oliver has Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but the medicine he needs is no longer available.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Cubillos
Maduro under fire
Venezuela's economic dip is largely the result of oil prices that have plunged more than 50 percent in the past two years. But a severe drought is crimping electricity supplies, and focusing people's ire on Maduro.
