Venezuela president taps general as head of state oil firm

President Nicolas Maduro has tapped a high-ranking general to lead Venezuela's struggling state oil company.

National Guard Maj. Gen. Manuel Quevedo will be president of PDVSA and the country's minister of oil.

Since taking office in 2013, Maduro has steadily handed more power to military officers, including key Cabinet posts.

Sunday's leadership change comes amid a sweeping anti-corruption investigation ordered by Maduro into the state-run PDVSA as a fall in crude production has worsened the oil-rich country's financial crisis.

This year, Venezuelan officials have arrested roughly 60 people, including many senior managers at PDVSA.

Officials in recent days jailed six top executives of PDVSA's U.S.-based subsidiary, Citgo. Five of them hold dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizenship.

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This story has been corrected by deleting a reference to Eulogio Del Pino, who was not the immediate past president of PDVSA.