Venezuelan company Monómeros, in Barranquilla, Colombia. File photo.
The president-elect of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has said that he plans to return the administration of the Venezuelan state-owned fertilizer company Monómeros, headquartered in Barranquilla, Colombia, to the legitimate government of Venezuela, headed by President Nicolás Maduro. Petro expressed hope that this will make the company functional again, which would reduce the cost of fertilizers in his country.
“The urea used in our country was produced in the Monómeros company of the Venezuelan petrochemical company Pequiven,” said Petro in an interview with the Colombian radio station W Radio. “Iván Duque caused the loss of fundamental raw material in the Colombian agricultural sector, in addition to financially strangulating the company. All because of the fault of Colombian officials.”
“The majority shareholder of Monómeros is Pequiven,” he added. “The business idea is for Pequiven to produce urea. We lost the urea,” he said, criticizing current President Duque’s actions against the company. Duque, together with self-proclaimed “interim president” Juan Guaidó and his gang, stole the fertilizer company Monómeros, one of Venezuela’s most valued foreign assets.
Petro noted that it is not even known if Juan Guaidó or Leopoldo López (who fled to Spain) manages Monómeros now, but he did make it clear that the management is not in the hands of Pequiven.
“So, we lost the fundamental raw material for Colombia,” Petro decried. “The company ended up practically closing its operations and lost the market it had in the country, and Colombia is now importing fertilizers from Russia.”
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Petro explained that one of the principal aims of his administration will be to restore to the economy, especially the Colombia-Venezuela trade that existed until Iván Duque recognized “interim president” Guaidó and tried to invade Venezuela—under US orders—which ended the Colombia-Venezuela diplomatic relations. “It will be a great responsibility and opportunity for the business community of the northeast,” said Petro. “All of this will serve to offset part of the loss of foreign exchange due to the drop in the global prices of crude oil.”
Al lograr recuperar el comercio colombo venezolano con el dinamismo que tenía en el 2008, podremos compensar parte de la pérdida de divisas por la caída del precio mundial del petroleo
Gran responsabilidad y oportunidad para el empresariado del nororiente https://t.co/ccgZHCvABU
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) July 6, 2022
Luis Fernando Velasco, coordinator of Gustavo Petro’s team for the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic, expressed grave concern regarding the Venezuelan fertilizer company. “Monómeros is still in the hands of Guaidó… It was a disaster, the company disappeared.”
Monómeros is reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy, registering losses amounting to millions of dollars.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/EF/SC
