The Premier of His People Maduro names cabinet members, keeping key Chavez admin. ministers

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has named his new cabinet members, keeping key ministers from the administration of the country’s late leader Hugo Chavez.

Just days after his inauguration, Maduro’s new cabinet members were sworn in at a ceremony in the capital, Caracas.

“This act is very important, today April 22, 2013. By swearing in this government team we are starting a new cycle of the Bolivarian Revolution,” Maduro said during the ceremony.

Nearly half of the country’s former ministers will remain in office.

Nelson Merentes has been named as the country’s finance minister and former finance chief Jorge Giordani as the new planning minister.

Chavez’s son-in-law has also been sworn in vice president.

Elias Jaua and Rafael Ramirez will keep their current posts as foreign and oil ministers.

Socialist Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election on April 14. He won 50.8 percent of the vote against 49.0 percent for the opposition leader Henrique Capriles.

Capriles said he did not recognize the official results, claiming that there were more than 300,000 incidents from Sunday’s poll that would need to be examined.

On March 8, Maduro became Venezuela’s acting president, following the death of late President Hugo Chavez, who lost a two-year-long battle with cancer on March 5. Maduro has promised to continue the socialist policies of the former leader.