Guayaquil, Ecuador, August 19, 2021 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced cabinet changes after a number of ministers were chosen as candidates for the November 21 “mega-elections.”

The most notorious shakeup was the appointment of Felix Plasencia, the nation’s ambassador to China since October 2020, as the new foreign affairs minister. The diplomat will replace Jorge Arreaza, who has held the post since August 2017 and is a popular figure with grassroots and international solidarity movements.

“I appointed Félix Plasencia as the new foreign minister. He has the immense responsibility of continuing the excellent diplomatic work carried out by Jorge Arreaza”, wrote Maduro in a Twitter announcement on Thursday.

Plasencia said he would take the new responsibility “with great commitment and pride.” The outgoing ambassador also served as vice-minister for Asia, the Middle East and Oceania in 2016, vice-minister for multilateral affairs (2018-2019) and minister for tourism and foreign trade (2019-2020). He was part of the government delegation for the 2019 failed dialogue process with the opposition that took place in Barbados and Oslo.

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