Nicolás Maduro has changed his energy minister amid cuts in power affecting Venezuela

Nicolás Maduro named this Monday Igor Gavidia Leon as the new Minister of Power in the midst of a blackout that has prevented Venezuela from collapsing since the beginning of March.

"I decided to appoint a power industry worker with 25 years of experience, an electrical engineer, who had various responsibilities (…), the engineer Igor Gavidia León, "announced the dictator Chavista on radio and television.

The new minister, who will also head the State Corporation Corporación Eléctrica Nacional (Corpoelec), replaces the retired general Luis Motta Domínguez, who held this position since August 2015.

Gavidia was president of the former Electrificación del Caroní (Edelca) company, responsible for electricity production in the Guayana region (south), where the Guri hydropower plant is located, which supplies 80% of the electricity. Electricity consumed by Venezuela.

Edelca was merged with other regional companies to create Corpoelec after the nationalization of the sector in 2007 by the late president Hugo Chávez (1999-2013).

Maduro also announced the signing of a decree of activation "a power plant" headed by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and the Minister of the Interior and Justice, General Néstor Reverolwho should seek solutions to the crisis and strengthen the security of the sector's facilities.

Power outages have been common in Venezuela for more than a decade. However, in the last month, they reached the population almost every day.

The regime, which denounces the fact that the current series of power cuts is due to "terrorist attacks" led by the United States with the support of the Venezuelan opposition, He has frequently denounced acts of sabotage.

Experts badociate the situation with lack of investment in infrastructure and maintenance, as well as multi-million dollar corruption cases.

Maduro ordered Sunday to reduce the workday and plan a 30-day energy ration. But Monday, the Venezuelan dictator announced that clbades at all levels of education would be reactivated Wednesday.