Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born April 15, 1963) was appointed by Hugo Chávez as vice president of Venezuela on January 13, 2002, replacing Adina Bastidas. As such, he was responsible to both the president and the national assembly, and for the relations between the executive and legislative branches of the government.

Diosdado Cabello's background is in engineering: he has an undergraduate degree in systems engineering and a graduate degree in engineering project management. Within the government, he organized the pro-Chávez paramilitary organizations called "Círculos Bolivarianos".

On April 13, 2002, he took on the duties of the presidency on a temporary basis, replacing Pedro Carmona, head of the Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce, as interim president after Hugo Chávez was overthrown in a coup d'état. Cabello said that "I, Diosdado Cabello, am assuming the presidency until such time as the president of the republic, Hugo Chávez Frías, appears." A few hours later, Chávez was back in office.

On April 28, 2002, Cabello was replaced as vice president by José Vicente Rangel.

External link

• http://www.venezuela.gov.ve/ns/index.htm