Police officer controlling the access of cars to a PDVSA gas station in Caracas in June, 2020. File photo.
Pedro Rafael Tellechea, the president of PDVSA, Venezuela’s publicly owned petroleum company, denied a new fake news story that was circulating on social media platforms about an alleged increase in gasoline prices in Venezuela.
After social media influencers claimed there was an increase in the price of a liter of gasoline, from US $0.50 to US $0.80, Tellechea spoke out and stated that this information was false and only sought to generate stress in the population.
Tellechea also clarified that all prices at service stations remain stable at approximately US $0.50 at international stations.
Venezuelans have suffered from gas scarcity, since 2019 when the Trump administration launched one of the harshest illegal sanctions ever imposed on a single nation. Since 2020, the Venezuelan government announced a new price system to be used at what is known as international gas stations, where the gas is sold at $0.50 per liter, whereas nationally subsidized gas stations, where the majority of Venezuelans buy gas, are priced at Bs 0.1 per liter, approximately $0.003 per liter at the current exchange rate. There is a quota of 120 liters of this subsidized gas per household, per month.
Tellechea said, “Do not see the Venezuelan people as ignorant, because after two days, thank God, the Venezuelan people realized that there was no lack of fuel, that there was no increase in fuel price.”
He warned that this type of misinformation only seeks to negatively impact the population’s perception of government management just weeks before Venezuelan presidential elections.
#UltimaHora NO está planteado el aumento del litro de gasolina a 0,80 dólares, como lo difundieron algunos influencers, dijo Min de Petróleo, Pedro Rafael Tellechea @PDVSA . 2+2 @Unionradionet pic.twitter.com/r9OEVne326
— Ginette Gonzalez (@ginettegm) May 24, 2024
On the contrary, Tellechea said that PDVSA is working at 100% power to cover all fuel demands throughout the country, to which he added that there is no risk of a shortage.
“We have the production for all fuel needs. We do not have any risky situations today,” he explained. He then called on the population and media not to be carried away by malicious misinformation.
Tellechea then spoke on the illegal sanctions imposed against the Venezuelan oil sector. He pointed out that these measures violate international agreements and represent a challenge in terms of financial transactions and recovery of Venezuelan funds abroad.
He highlighted that despite this challenge, more than 20 foreign companies are interested in collaborating with the Venezuelan oil industry in the coming months, which represents possible opportunities to strengthen cooperation and development of the sector in the country.
In recent weeks, the lines of cars in gas stations in Venezuela have spiked; this is a cyclic situation that has not been completely resolved by the government. It is a phenomenon directly connected to the US’s illegal sanctions and the efficiency/velocity of the technology used in the transition process. This process is developed by the Venezuelan oil industry with the support of the Iranian government as of 2020.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/MCM/SL
