Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is keeping his information minister despite offer to resign

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is keeping his information minister in his post despite an offer by the top aide to resign. Information Minister Andres Izarra had offered to step down after deciding to make private TV channels pay to broadcast the president's speeches without consulting Chavez. The state television channel has since announced it will toss out the plan to charge private channels about US$200,000 an hour for the right to broadcast Chavez's speeches. The president's office said in a statement Friday that Chavez has decided not to accept Izarra's resignation offer. The statement praised the information minister's work overall.