President Maduro condemns the United States' robbery of CITGO Corporation and Venezuelan funds in US bank accounts and its transfer to a far-right opposition group. Photo: Presidential Press.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, condemned a US court’s illegal handover of PDVSA subsidiary, CITGO Petroleum Corporation, to a Venezuelan far-right opposition group that does not even have any legal authority in Venezuela. “The Biden administration handed over all the assets of CITGO Petroleum Corporation, all of Venezuela’s money in US bank accounts, to a group of opposition political parties belonging to the Unitary Platform, allowing them to sell, negotiate and destroy that company that belongs to all Venezuelans,” President Maduro stated.
“What the United States government has done is unparalleled. Not even Donald Trump dared to do it,” the president stated, condemning the order given by the US regime. He added that the Venezuelan opposition delegation that attended the International Conference on Venezuela hosted by Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Bogotá was aware that it had “stabbed” Venezuela.
Regarding the flight of former National Assembly deputy Juan GuaidĂł to the US, President Maduro stated that the sinister plan behind it was to coordinate the robbery of CITGO, carried out through General License 42 issued by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
“The owner of CITGO is the people of Venezuela, through PDVSA,” President Maduro stressed. “What the Biden administration is doing is one of the greatest robberies that has been committed against any nation in the world.”
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Agricultural development plan
The president made these comments at the 2nd Synergy Productive Meeting for the Agri-Food Chain on Thursday, May 4, held at the CĂrculo Militar in Caracas, with the aim of promoting the agricultural development plan 2023- 2025.
President Maduro was accompanied by the ministers Pedro Rafael Tellechea (Petroleum) and Wilmar Castro Soteldo (Productive Agriculture and Land), as well as other members of his cabinet, regional authorities, and business owners from the food and agriculture sector.
President Maduro highlighted the value that lies in the interconnection of efforts of each productive sector in the country to promote social development.
“We have to connect and improve a plan, because Venezuela has the capacity to produce everything it needs for its economy, the development of society, and the satisfaction of the needs of our people,” he stated.
He called upon the productive entities of the country to join efforts for development. He stated that productive synergy is capable of promoting the construction of a new diversified economic model, whose purpose lies in satisfying national needs and achieving the construction of an export vocation in the Venezuelan economy.
Vehicles confiscated in anti-corruption operation delivered to PDVSA
During the act, the president made public the delivery of 100 cargo trucks to the PDVSA National Transportation Company. These trucks were seized in the anti-corruption operation. These new vehicles will expedite the distribution of fuel directly, and facilitate the national plan of attention to agricultural producers.
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“If you ask me, where do these 100 trucks come from? Well, they come from the Asset Forfeiture Law that the National Assembly approved and that I recently signed,” President Maduro announced. “These vehicles were bought with ill-gotten money, overpriced by thieves. So we seized them through the Asset Forfeiture Law and now they are going directly to serve the producers of the Venezuelan countryside.”
Sowing plan 2023
Petroleum Minister Pedro Tellechea announced that as part of the Sowing Plan 2023, 121,000 metric tons of urea will be distributed for the winter sowing cycle, to guarantee the planting of 400,000 hectares of cereals and other crops.
“For the matter of cereals we are distributing 90 million liters of diesel, and for other crops we are providing 36 million liters of diesel,” the minister said.
Tellechea added that 39,000 metric tons of various low and high density resins will also be delivered. “We have made a great plan, whose main objective is the distribution of fertilizers, fuel, and resin for the agricultural producers,” he said.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
