VENEZUELA:Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez has announced a major cabinet reshuffle after a poll defeat last month wrecked his hopes of winning new powers to push ahead with his declared socialist revolution.
Mr Chávez named a soft-spoken replacement for his combative vice-president, Jorge Rodriguez, and said he was making 12 other cabinet changes.
Mr Rodriguez was blamed by many government supporters for the referendum defeat in December, when voters rejected Mr Chávez's bid for new powers and the right to run for re-election indefinitely. In recent days, an apparently humbled Mr Chávez has dropped his grandiose revolutionary speeches and has instead promised to tackle issues like crime and garbage collection that more directly affect his grassroots supporters.
In a telephone call to state television, Mr Chávez said his new vice-president is Ramon Carrizales, a former housing minister. He did not give details on most of the 12 other cabinet changes.
Mr Chávez said it was important to reach out to Venezuela's middle class and other sectors of society often alienated by his pro-poor policies.
"We are not extremists and we cannot be. We have to look for alliances with the middle classes," he said, adding that he had no plans to eliminate private property, a fear of many of his opponents.
On New Year's Eve, he declared a pardon that is expected to free from jail hundreds of people who took part in a coup that briefly ousted him from power in 2002. - (Reuters)