Machiques, Venezuela was elevated to a Diocese from a Vicariate Apostolic.
Bishop Ramiro Díaz Sánchez, O.M.I. retired as Vicar Apostolic and Bishop Jesús Alfonso Guerrero Contreras, O.F.M. Cap. was named as the first Bishop of the new diocese.
Bishop Guerrero Contreras had been serving as Vicar Apostolic of Caroní.