CITGO Petroleum Corporation headquarters in Houston, Texas, US, February 19, 2019. Photo: Loren Elliott/Reuters/file photo.
By Misión Verdad – Jun 20, 2025
The auction of CITGO Petroleum, a key subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in the United States and illegally seized by the US government, is in its final stages, marking a crucial moment not only for Venezuela but also for other countries with investments in the US. According to recent reports, the judicial process, which will culminate in the illegal sale of Citgo, is continuing despite protests from President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
The company, which owns strategic refineries in Texas, Louisiana, and Illinois, represents Venezuela’s most valuable asset outside its borders, with a significant pipeline network and more than 4,000 gas stations in the United States.
Its loss would represent a financial blow to Venezuela, as well as a symboli of dispossession that would reaffirm Washington’s appetite for stealing Venezuela’s resources. Companies such as Vitol and Koch Industries, along with other corporations and vulture funds, have submitted multibillion-dollar bids, some exceeding $8 billion, for acquiring CITGO. The auction process is part of a political strategy that is being disguised under the guise of legality.
CITGO’s actual value ranges between $11 billion and $13 billion, but the expected revenue after the auction is expected to fall below $8 billion, demonstrating a clear strategic interest on the part of the buyers, beyond the immediate commercial value.
With unilateral coercive measures already undermining much of Venezuela’s foreign trade, this auction appears as a new tool of pressure, disguised as a commercial dispute. Companies like ConocoPhillips are leading the charge in filing multimillion-dollar claims using US courts to advance their agenda of plunder against Venezuela.
A brief history of a dispossession
The “legal” basis for the plunder is US court rulings that recognized Juan Guaidó as the “interim president” of Venezuela in 2019, a figure without constitutional legitimacy. Guaidó attempted to seize control of Venezuelan assets abroad, including CITGO, and his actions were endorsed by the first Trump administration, particularly by then-Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who transferred full control of the company to the self-proclaimed “ad hoc board of directors,” Guaidó’s fake PDVSA, in open violation of international law.
Since then, President Nicolás Maduro’s government has filed multiple legal actions to stop this plunder. In 2021, his administration filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court to regain control of CITGO, in which it denounced the illegitimacy of the “appointment” of the fake PDVSA. However, these legal resources have been systematically blocked by US courts, which prioritize corporate and political interests over international law.
The Crystallex case, which kicked off this entire process 17 years ago, set a dangerous precedent: it allowed a US court to determine that PDV Holding—CITGO’s parent company—was responsible for Venezuelan state debts. This legal interpretation, criticized by experts in international law, opened the door for more than a dozen creditors to begin seizing Venezuelan assets.
Misión Verdad has demonstrated that behind this maneuver lies not only economic interests but also a clear political will to weaken the Venezuelan state, to isolate it financially and to pave the way for regime change. The participation of frontmen and executives linked to the far-right opposition, many of whom lack legitimacy or real representation, was fundamental to this process.
Despite this, the Venezuelan government has continued to pursue legal challenges in the case. It has appealed to international bodies, including the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and has launched diplomatic campaigns in multilateral organizations to condemn the instrumentalization of the US judicial system for geopolitical purposes. These efforts have the objective of both recovering CITGO and exposing the misuse of law as a weapon of economic warfare.
The permanent shadow of Marco Rubio and the far-right opposition
One of the central figures behind the CITGO seizure is current US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who for years has acted as the main architect of hostile policies against Venezuela. From his seat in the Senate, he promoted laws and sanctions that have served as a so-called legal framework for the seizure of Venezuelan assets in the United States.
But his role goes further. He has maintained constant contact with leaders of the Venezuelan extreme-right opposition, which has facilitated his access to important financial and judicial structures.
The “ad hoc board” has served as a completely illegal tool from a constitutional and corporate perspective for opaque operations, suspicious contracts and questionable capital movements. Several of its members have been investigated for money laundering, corruption and for allowing vulture funds to seize CITGO’s assets, without any real consequences for their actions in the United States.
Rubio publicly supported this policy, received donations from oil lobbyists and intervened directly with the Treasury Department to ensure that the company remained under the control of these agents. In 2019, he and Republican Senator Ted Cruz sent a letter to Trump, urging him to prevent any attempt by the Venezuelan government to retake control of CITGO, an action coordinated with senior members of the Venezuelan far-right opposition based in Miami.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has opened an investigation against Guaidó, Vecchio, and several others for corruption and embezzlement of funds received from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The goal is to determine where the approximately $1 billion provided to them between 2018 and 2020 as “humanitarian aid” went. Furthermore, by creating fictitious positions like the one awarded to Iván Simonovis, they created an extortion system targeting people with some kind of connection to the Venezuelan oil industry, using two methods:
- If the company owed a debt to PDVSA, it was advised to sue the company in Texas for payment. The companies were assured that, during the trial, the “ad hoc board” would agree to pay the debt and legal fees, but demanded a 20% share of the proceeds.
- They pressured businesses to hire a specific lawyer to apply for the OFAC license, which cost $3 million, claiming that this way they were guaranteed to receive the license.
Rubio is currently facing accusations of misappropriating funds from CITGO’s Simón Bolívar Foundation and acting as a lobbyist for the US oil giant ExxonMobil while influential Republicans allegedly blocked progress of the investigation. The case continues to unfold as Rubio pursues his destabilizing agenda in the region.
Documents leaked by Wikileaks show how US officials and Venezuelan opposition politicians worked together to secure control of CITGO, even before the auction process officially began. These actions, far from responding to public interest, appear to have been driven by an agenda of personal gain, in which business owners close to Guaidó and the opposition elite sought to profit from CITGO’s administration.
A political plan (poorly) disguised as litigation
The CITGO auction is not simply a case of corporate law: it is part of a much broader campaign of economic and political suffocation and corporate plunder against Venezuela. Under the pretext of complying with court rulings and creditor demands, the United States and its vassals Juan Guaidó, Leopoldo López, Carlos Vecchio, et al. are systematically stripping Venezuela of its assets abroad.
This process is part of a comprehensive strategy that combines economic sanctions, judicial manipulation, electoral interference, and propaganda. CITGO, as a symbol of Venezuela’s productive capacity abroad, represents a crucial strategic objective in this war that is increasingly becoming less discreet.
Although the Venezuelan government has faced enormous difficulties in making its case in US courts, its diplomatic and legal resistance remains steadfast. It never hurts to expose the true nature of this plunder and remind the world that behind every legal proceeding lies a political plot designed to undermine a sovereign country.
In the coming months, with the final hearing scheduled for August 18 and the possible ratification of the winner by the US Treasury Department, CITGO’s fate will be sealed. However, the trial of history will show who truly sought to protect the sovereign interests of the PDVSA subsidiary and who, with legal disguises and false narratives, contributed to its destruction.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
Misión Verdad
Misión Verdad is a Venezuelan investigative journalism website with a socialist perspective in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution
