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Chavez Shuffles Up His Cabinet

14:28 H | Topics: Latin America - Politics - Venezuela

After his failed referendum, Hugo Chavez is making some major changes in his administration, replacing 11 of his 27 ministers and even his vice president.

As a result, combative Jorge Rodriguez is now an ex-vice president, while soft-spoken Ramon Carrizales is the new VP. Carrizales is a former Housing Minister.

Mexico's La Jornada reports that the philosophy of the administration changes is that after 2007, a year that marked Chavez's "socialist revolution", 2008 should be a "a time of reflection, rectification and revitalization".

That revitalization appears to have become a reality for 11 fired ministers -- from Finance to Telecommunications to Sports -- whose replacements have already been named.

This shuffle comes on heels of Chavez's announcement that he would pardon those who led the 2002 coup against him and focus on pressing social issues.

Via / La Jornada and AHN

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