CARACAS.- The Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) demanded a public trial for Tareck El Aissami, former Minister of Petroleum and former president of the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The former Chavista official, detained since April 2024, is accused of alleged involvement in a corruption plot in the oil and cryptocurrency sector.
Neirlay Andrade, a member of the political bureau of the PCV central committee, said that the trial must be public and transparent.
“We are talking about the country’s main industry and perhaps the most important case of corruption so far this century,” he stated. Andrade indicated that the country must be aware of the judicial deliberations and political responsibilities, especially because this plot includes other people from the official environment.
The PCV also questioned that people who held management positions in state companies during the investigated period continue to lead public institutions without being investigated.
Trial underway
The PCV’s request for an open process in the case of former minister Tareck El Aissami comes when several Venezuelan media outlets reported on the start of trial hearings for the former vice president, without the authorities having so far issued any statement in this regard.
On April 20, Transparencia Venezuela reported the beginning of the trial against former minister El Aissami and more than 60 defendants for the fraud called PDVSA-Cripto by more than 16.96 billion dollars to the detriment of the Treasury.
El Aissami was vice president of the deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro between 2017 and 2018, when he was replaced by Delcy Rodríguez, now acting president after the capture of Maduro by the United States last January.
The former Chavista official was sanctioned by the United States in 2017, a month after his appointment as vice president. USA accused him of “playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking.”
In February of this year, Tareck El Aissami appeared as “captured” on the official website of the US Immigration Service. Then, his whereabouts were kept secret by the Chavista regime since the beginning of 2025.
