i wish he had read a book on capitalism...are marxists good for mining? i'm getting the feeling that the worse things get down there, the more hugo falls back on his oldest buddies (who seem to have his ear)...it's a sure sign of paranoia/desperation imo...just a matter of time until ministers start getting arrested, then that will be the end of HC...

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--President Hugo Chavez Friday reshuffled the key economic posts in his cabinet, appointing one his most trusted allies to deal with a growing electricity crisis.

Ali Rodriguez, until now Chavez's Finance Minister, will leave his post to serve as Electricity Minister. The Finance Ministry will merge with the Planning Ministry and will be headed by Jorge Giordani, who currently serves as the Planning Minister.

Rodriguez, a self-declared Marxist and former guerrilla fighter, was appointed Finance Minister in June 2008.

Born in 1937, Rodriguez gained fame in Venezuela as a leftist guerrilla leader in the 1960s and 70s. He put down his weapons in the 1980s and became a legislator specializing in the oil industry.

When Chavez won the presidency in 1998, he tapped Rodriguez to be his Oil Minister. Since then, he headed state-oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, was Foreign Minister and also Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba.

He will now have to deal with a growing power crisis that already claimed the job of his predecessor.

Jorge Giordani, also one of Chavez longest-serving collaborators, will head the merged Planning and Finance Ministries, expanding his influence over economic policy.

Giordani was once known as "the Albanian" for the Marxist views he held in graduate school.

-By Darcy Crowe, Dow Jones Newswires; (58) 414 249 6821; darcy.crowe@dowjones.com