CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela's embattled socialist president has reshuffled his Cabinet and named a former interior minister as vice president.
President Nicolas Maduro says Aragua state Gov. Tareck El Aissami will take the No. 2 spot.
The vice presidential post is an appointed position, and Maduro has swapped it out in the past. But the position holds extra significance this year as the opposition has vowed to force Maduro from office. That could lead to his vice president serving the rest of his term, which ends in 2019.
El Aissami was interior minister before being elected governor of the central state of Aragua. He has been accused of participating in the drug trade by members of the opposition. He has called those who speak ill of him traitors who seek to harm Venezuela.