MIAMI.-In an unexpected change of cabinet to consolidate his questioned mandate after the electoral fraud in Venezuela, Nicholas Ripe appointed Leticia Gómez Hernández, deputy minister of Tourism International and president of Venezuelan Tourism (Venetur), as the new head of the office responsible for controlling the movement of people and generating foreign currency.
Of little public exposure, the appointment of Gómez Hernández is one of the most striking: he is of Mexican nationality. Cubanaccording to the media, despite the fact that the Constitution establishes that all persons in ministerial positions must be Venezuelan (244).
Other significant changes include that of Diosdado Cabello, a deputy and leader of the ruling PSUV, who replaces General Remigio Ceballos as head of the Ministry of the Interior, Justice and Peace, which manages internal security and police forces; and that of the executive vice-minister Delcy Rodríguez, who now has the oil business in her hands.
Who is the Minister of Tourism?
Leticia Gómez Hernández is a Cuban who has lived in Venezuela for more than a decade. She has accounts on all social networks, where she says that she is an industrial engineer and has experience in hospitality and tourism in Venezuela.
Before 2014, Gómez Hernández left the Caribbean island, at the age of 42, along with 17 other Cuban “tourists,” bound for Margarita Island, in the state of Nueva Esparta, in the north of the South American country, according to international media. Like so many others who traveled in the context of the Cuba-Venezuela exchange, she was supposed to return to Havana in a week, after obtaining legal permission, but she did not do so. Despite having left behind her husband and a minor daughter
Although it is not revealed how he began working directly in the Maduro regime, they claim that his rise was rapid.
In 2015, Gómez was manager of the Venetur Hotel in Margarita, a tourist facility that was called Margarita Hilton&Suites but was one of those expropriated by Hugo Chávez in 2009. Then, in 2018, she was appointed president of the state-owned company Venetur and, in 2021, she was deputy minister of International Tourism.
The “eyes” of Cuban
The Ministry of Tourism claims that Gómez represents “the eyes” of Cabello and his wife Marleny Contreras, a former minister of that office, according to an international media outlet.
In recent years, Gómez posted on his social media content from meetings at tourism fairs in Cuba and Venezuela, with selected businessmen, and even press releases stating that “each Cuban visitor left the country with up to $5,000 in purchases, and that each tour had two planes available for tourists to take the merchandise away.”
Other reports indicate that more than a month ago, the official website of the ruling PSUV party, of which Cabello is first vice president, published information about a meeting between Gómez Hernández and the vice consul of Venezuela in Cuba, Rosa Alizo. The objective: “to discuss strategies in the tourism sector” and the possible “opening of a Venetur commercial office in Havana.”
Gómez replaces Ali Padrón, an economist who graduated in 1994 and earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from London Metropolitan University in 1999.
Cabinet change
In addition to Gómez, Cabello and Rodríguez, the latter confirmed and with another ministry, Maduro’s executive cabinet is as follows:
Others confirmed in ministries: Vladimir Padrino López in Defense; Juan Carlos Loyo, in Aquaculture and Fisheries; Héctor Silva in Mining; and Luis Villegas Ramírez in National Commerce; Clara Vidal in Indigenous Peoples; Ángel Prado in Communes, Social Movements and Urban Agriculture; Yván Gil in Foreign Relations; Aníbal Coronado, in the Office of the President; Julio García in the Penitentiary System.
In addition, Jorge Márquez in Electric Energy; Ramón Velásquez Araguayán in Transport; Josué Lorca, in Ecosocialism; Gabriela Jiménez in Science and Technology; Magaly Gutiérrez in Health; Ricardo Menéndez in Planning; Ernesto Villegas in Culture; and Freddy Ñáñez in Communication and Information.
New appointees: Héctor Obregón, president of Pdvsa; General Menry Fernández in the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands; Anabel Pereira in Finance and Foreign Trade; Pedro Tellechea in Industry and National Production; Grecia Colmenares in Youth; Arnaldo Sánchez in Sports; Carlos Mast Yustiz in Water, Raúl Paredes in Housing; and Juan José Ramírez in Public Works
Also, Eduardo Piñate in Labor; Magally Gutiérrez Viña in Grandparents; Jhoanna Carrillo in Women; Héctor Rodríguez in Education; and Ricardo Sánchez in University Education.
FOUNTAIN: With information from martinoticias.com, proyectoinventario.org, diariodecuba
