Tareck El Aissami

More than 40 people have been arrested in Venezuela in an anti-corruption drive sweep of state oil company PDVSA and other related government bodies, the prosecutor's office said on April 1.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami resigned on March 20 after prosecutors opened a corruption investigation into officials at the state oil company PDVSA.

Anti-corruption police on March 19 arrested two people closely linked to El Aissami: Top PDVSA official Antonio Perez Suarez, and Joselit Ramirez, who manages oil industry funds through cryptocurrencies.

Venezuela formally launched its new oil-backed cryptocurrency on Tuesday in an unconventional bid to haul itself out of a deepening economic crisis, reported AFP.

The leftist Caracas government put 38.4 million units of the world's first state-backed digital currency, the Petro, on private pre-sale from the early hours.

Twelve people were killed in Caracas overnight following two days of mass street protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s beleaguered government.
Six people were also injured in the escalating violence, the public ministry said in a statement on Friday. The latest figures raised the total number of deaths during growing protests to 20 over the past three weeks.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government ordered the suspension of CNN's Spanish-language service from Venezuela's airwaves on Feb. 15, accusing it of distorting the truth in coverage. 

U.S.-based 'CNN en Espanol' became unavailable on Venezuela's major cable providers minutes after a statement by telecommunications regulator Conatel announcing the suspension.