The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, requested all cabinet ministers to submit their resignation letters March 17. Maduro thus intends to carry out a “profound restructuring” of his administration to combat the economic crisis and improve state responses to Venezuelans. The President is expected to announce the ministerial changes in the next few hours.

The news was announced by Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez after a blackout March 7 paralyzed the entire country for almost a week. Nicolás Maduro blamed the United States and the opposition for this. For his part, the self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaidó, claimed the power cuts were down to the poor state of the country’s electrical installations.

Separately, Guaidó announced that he is preparing a national march – as yet undefined – on the presidential palace of Miraflores in Caracas, the country’s capital, to take control of the Executive branch. Although Maduro did not comment on the matter, he said that, in addition to the ministerial changes, he is preparing “new and powerful measures” to improve Venezuelans’ quality of life.