Entrance to the CITGO refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, US. Photo: File photo.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department has extended the license that prevents the illegal confiscation of the Venezuelan CITGO Petroleum Corporation until April 16 2024, despite the barrage of maneuvers launched by Washington—with the help of Venezuelan far-right assets—to prevent this from happening.
Through a statement published online this Tuesday, January 16, it was announced that the US Treasury Department extended general license number 5N for three months, which suspended PDVSA’s right to take control of its subsidiary since October 2019.
In this way, the new license replaces resolution 5M, issued on October 18, 2023. This means that during these months, transactions related to the sale or transfer of CITGO shares, concerning the PDVSA 2020 bond, are prohibited.
“Transactions related to the sale or transfer of CITGO shares in connection with the PDVSA 2020 8.5% Bond are prohibited unless specifically authorized by OFAC,” the document cited.
Currently, CITGO’s debts are almost double those recorded in 2019, which came as a result of several creditors arguing that the former Venezuelan far-right politician Juan Guaidó was using CITGO for his own purposes. These actions during Guaidó’s so-called “interim administration” generated losses for the nation of 19 billion dollars.
Last week, the Supreme Court of Justice of the US acknowledged the fraud committed by the Venezuelan opposition on CITGO, having used resources from the subsidiary of the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) for their own purposes.
That decision closed the possibility of reversing the embargo orders, and gave the green light to proceed with the CITGO auction.
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In defense of Venezuelan assets, the Venezuelan National Assembly created a special commission this Tuesday, in order to investigate the opposition parties that participated in CITGO’s theft and were responsible for embezzling $70 million belonging to it.
Likewise, the commission proposes to carry out a questionnaire that will be applied to all those responsible who appear in the commission’s reports, to make them present their case before the country. The goal of the commission is to define responsibilities among the political parties and personalities involved to confiscate assets for the amount of the embezzlement.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
