Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that he was moving Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez to serve as his United Nations envoy.
The move, which sees former communications minister Delcy Rodriguez appointed new chief diplomat, was announced on the eve of Venezuela joining the UN Security Council on January 1 as a temporary member on a rotating basis, representing Latin America.
Maduro said that in his new post, Ramirez will have "the greatest responsibility of defending world peace."
"From any post, I will fight with honesty and firmness in defense of our country," Ramirez said on Twitter after his appointment.
Ramirez, a 51-year-old engineer by training, had only served as foreign minister since September 3. He had previously headed the oil ministry since 2002 and was president of the state oil company PDVSA from 2004 through this year.
In November, Ramirez unsuccessfully sought a cut of two million barrels of oil in an OPEC meeting to stop a big drop in the price of oil, which accounts for 96 percent of the income of Venezuela, which holds the world's largest reserves of crude.