Venezuelan far-right politician María Corina Machado at a campaign rally. File photo.
Venezuelan far-right politician María Corina Machado received a $3.2 million bribe from a US lobby firm called Howard Stirk Holdings (HSH) to hand over PDVSA to Chevron “if she won the presidential elections” of Venezuela.
The evidence of this bribe was presented by Brazilian journalist Patrícia de Oliveira Souza Lélis in an interview with Venezuela News. Lélis covered Latin American news for the mainstream media emporium Fox News in the United States and worked with international lobbies.
The money given to Machado was not only to promote her campaign in this year’s presidential campaign, as she is disqualified for treason and was already aware of this issue. The bribe was to be used in social media campaigns and other plans.
EXCLUSIVA: María Corina Machado recibió soborno de $3.2 millones de un lobby estadounidense para entregar PDVSA a Chevron si ganaba elecciones (+DOCUMENTOS)https://t.co/dKTv5MXYI1
— Agencia Venezuela News (@VNVenezuelanews) May 16, 2024
Lélis began her work with lobbies focused on Venezuela, which is how she met María Corina Machado, who was presenting herself as a Venezuelan presidential candidate to the American public.
Machado received $3.2 million in bribes
The US government sought to promote María Corina Machado’s “leadership” in public opinion and to present President Nicolás Maduro as a dictator. For this plan, it disbursed $3.2 million for the Venezuelan opposition’s primary election.
This is further evidenced by the leading role that Machado assumed in the primaries despite its lack of legal validity and her refusal to receive assistance from the National Electoral Council, Venezuela’s electoral authority.
The plan also included Pedro Luis Urruchurtu, who was in charge of María Corina Machado’s international relations and is wanted in Venezuela for treason, conspiracy, money laundering, and association to commit crimes. High-profile US Republicans such as an attorney linked to Donald Trump, William Barr, was also involved in the plot, Lélis reported.
She revealed that the money was moved through the Disenso Foundation, created by the Spanish neo-nazi party Vox. The foundation was the recipient of these resources, which went to Machado’s electoral campaign and an anti-Chavismo and anti-Maduro smear campaign through social media and fake news on mainstream media.
Lélis explained that María Corina Machado was negotiating Venezuela’s resources with the United States in exchange for promoting her candidacy.
“I had some meetings with Guaidó also about this when they decided that he was going to put money in María Corina’s campaign, to talk to them, to know how María Corina was going to move this money for the United States government,” Lélis told Venezuela News.
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PDVSA on a silver platter for Chevron
The journalist confirmed that Chevron was involved in this lobby against the Venezuelan government due to the oil multinational’s evident interest in Venezuelan oil. Lélis stressed that with Venezuela’s abundant oil resources, it would be easier for Chevron to have cheaper prices, in addition to other strategic interests of domination. She added that in the meetings, Chevron representatives mentioned “Latin America and Mexico,” but the main topic was always Venezuela.
Machado’s involvement in assassination attempts against Maduro
Lélis also confirmed to Venezuela News that she was able to witness how María Corina Machado, Juan Guaidó, and other far-right politicians openly talked about assassinating Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“I was in the Washington DC office and these things were talked about with politicians in Florida, linked to Guaidó and María Corina,” she stated.
These negotiations took place in a house in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, which was bought illegally, the journalist added. “Guaidó always uses this property to meet with politicians,” she noted. “The house is under the names of Terry Giles and Armstrong Williams. Terry is a Republican lawyer linked to Trump and William Barr.”
The journalist sought political asylum in Mexico amid death threats
Lélis was threatened by US agents involved in the conspiracy to assassinate and overthrow President Nicolás Maduro. She is currently living under political asylum in Mexico due to Washington’s persecution against her.
“They began to suspect me when they asked me to travel to Venezuela with a suitcase full of money to deliver it to someone from María Corina’s campaign and I refused,” she said.
She underlined that the US agents did not work with her anymore after finding some pro-left content on her social media. Since they found this out, distrust towards her increased, and they began to make false accusations against her without any proof.
The prosecutor accusing Lélis is Russell Carlberg. According to the journalist, Carlberg was in on the plan and knows about the transactions and documents that Lélis has in her possession. She alleged that he sent the FBI to look for her in Mexico.
Those who threatened Lélis also include Armstrong Williams, a Republican politician, political commentator, and owner of The Baltimore Sun. He was Lélis’ direct boss while she worked in the US.
She added that FBI agents pursued her even outside the United States. An agent called Guillermo Turke called her at her house in Mexico, where he threatened her with death if she did not hand over all documents and computers with information about Venezuela. “He came to my house without any document from a judge approving him to come… Everything was illegal,” Lélis said.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
