Venezuelan former oil executives sentenced for corruption and known as the CITGO six. File photo.
Caracas, March 9, 2022 (OrinocoTribune.com)—Venezuelan authorities released two US citizens jailed in Venezuela. The first was Gustavo Adolfo Cárdenas, a naturalized US citizen and former Venezuelan CITGO executive belonging to the so-called CITGO Six, who was sentenced for corruption in 2019. The second person to be released was José Alberto Fernández, a Cuban-US naturalized citizen who was arrested in the state of Táchira while flying a drone without a permit near the Colombian border. He was accused of terrorism by Venezuelan authorities.
This release comes as the first tangible result of the agreements achieved in the meeting between President Nicolás Maduro and Joe Biden’s envoys. US president Joe Biden celebrated in a statement on Tuesday the release of the two citizens, which according to the statement were “unfairly” detained in Venezuela.
1. #ÚltimoMinuto| Fuentes oficiales confirman que el día de hoy se dictó una medida de libertad, por razones humanitarias, a favor de 2 ciudadanos americanos que estaban a la orden de la justicia venezolana. Se trata de Gustavo Adolfo Cárdenas y José Alberto Fernández.
— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) March 9, 2022
Many Venezuelans on social media platforms questioned the release that was made without any indication of the release of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, who was kidnapped by the US government and is currently awaiting trial in Florida state. His illegal transfer from Cape Verde to US territory is what justified the Venezuelan government’s decision last November to halt negotiations with the opposition, that were being held in Mexico City at the time.
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Meanwhile, former deputy Juan Guaidó’s “ambassador” in Washington, Carlos Vecchio, told US news outlet El Tiempo Latino, as reported by anti-Chavista news website Efecto Cocuyo, that the US delegation that met with President Maduro last weekend only informed the “interim government” of the meeting when they were already in Venezuela. This represents for many a clear indication of the lack of trust between the Biden administration and the fake Venezuelan government that was imposed during the last year of Donald Trump’s presidency.
#SepaQue El embajador de Juan Guaidó en EE.UU., Carlos Vecchio, aseguró que el gobierno de Biden no le informó al presidente de la Comisión Delegada Legislativa sobre la reunión de altos funcionarios de la Casa Blanca con Nicolás Maduro.
Lee más aquí ⬇️https://t.co/17EzT7MZwH
— Efecto Cocuyo (@EfectoCocuyo) March 9, 2022
Gustavo Cárdenas is part of a group of six Venezuelans who worked as top executives of Petróleos de Venezuela’s (PDVSA) subsidiary in the United States, CITGO. Administrative and judicial proceedings were opened against them in 2017 on charges of corruption and they were found guilty and sentenced in 2019.
Many analysts found it difficult to understand how six Venezuelans that were naturalized as US citizens while working for CITGO in the United States became such big deals to high-ranked US officials, from Trump to Biden. Many believe there were US intelligence assets working for US interests, while allegedly working for Venezuela. The so-called CITGO Six has been gaining notoriety mainly because of the interest shown by top White House officials to have them released, an interest that contrasts with the low-intensity attempt to free another, non-naturalized US citizen, currently in Venezuelan jail for being found guilty of criminal activities.
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Venezuela-US talks
Although the Venezuelan Head of State Nicolás Maduro confirmed the meeting with the White House delegates in the Miraflores Palace this Monday night, he did not offer any details about the topics that were discussed in the meeting, but he said that deputy Jorge Rodríguez was going to do so in upcoming days.
However, the release of the two naturalized US citizens shows the commitment of the Venezuelan authorities to continue negotiations with their US counterpart, even with the understanding that the US is only acting in their own interests, to contain the internal economic crisis created by its sickening predilection for sanctioning countries all over the world whiteout properly measuring the impact this would have on the US population.
Accusations against former CITGO executives occurred in 2017, after it became known that they had signed contracts that put the majority of the shares of the Venezuelan company operating in the United States as collateral for a unauthorized loan negotiation. It is also important to note that CITGO is one of the largest gas retail chains in the US that also has significant refining capacity, which is specialized in processing Venezuelan heavy crude oil.
CITGO is currently on the verge of being auctioned off due to the Venezuelan government’s incapacity to fight and pay for commercial disputes with different corporations, which has been the result of same US sanctions affecting PDVSA and Venezuela’s oil production. One of the main negotiation requests that should be put on the table, according to many local Venezuelan analysts, is the complete return of CITGO to Venezuelan hands and to allow Venezuelan authorities to properly defend the interests of Venezuela abroad, this along with the release of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab.
Featured image: Venezuelan former oil executives sentenced for corruption and known as the CITGO Six. File photo.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/DD
