Venezuela's petroleum minister: Opposition to privatize the oil industry

Rafael Ramírez, Venezuela's Minister of Petroleum and Mining and President of state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), said Thursday that Venezuelan opposition seeks to privatize the Venezuelan oil industry and reinstate the "unpatriotic meritocracy that has caused so much damage" in Pdvsa.

"It is the same recipe of oil opening. When Commander (Hugo Chávez) took office, he ordered to stop that policy. They (the opposition leaders) are proposing elimination of the Ministry of Petroleum, in order to prevent the government from taking decisions on this issue. They proposal is to create an oil agency that would work with private companies. They talk about selling shares of Pdvsa and privatizing the oil industry," Ramírez warned.

The minister said that the opposition wants to establish a sort of "smokescreen" in the oil industry. He explained that there are no funds in Venezuela to buy state-run oil company Pdvsa.