Venezuela arrests former oil minister for alleged sharing of sensitive PDVSA info

(WO) – Venezuela detained former Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea over the weekend as part of an internal purge at the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, after President Nicolás Maduro’s disputed reelection.

Tellechea, a technocrat from the petrochemical sector, served as oil minister until Aug. 27, when he was replaced by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. As the former head of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), Tellechea closed deals on a number of jointly-run oil ventures with foreign oil producers as Venezuela sought to ramp up production.

Tellechea was detained on Sunday after a string of arrests that have swept PDVSA in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. The people spoke anonymously due to the sensitive, ongoing nature of the situation.

Venezuela confirmed the detention of Tellechea and his closest collaborators on Monday in a statement from the prosecutor’s office. The former minister and his allies committed “serious crimes,” the prosecutor said, alleging they had handed over sensitive PDVSA information to an entity controlled by U.S. intelligence. 

The detention comes amid a renewed push by Maduro against corruption. The president is seeking to regain popular support after the opposition presented records from a majority of polling stations that showed him losing the July vote by a wide margin. 

Press officials for Venezuela’s information ministry didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tellechea, who has been serving as industry minister, was unexpectedly removed from his post on Friday and replaced by top Maduro ally, Alex Saab.

His detention follows that of his predecessor at the oil ministry, Tareck El Aissami, who was arrested in April as part of an investigation into billions in missing energy revenues.