US Senators Introduce Bill to Continue Theft of Venezuelan Resources

The US government is formulating another mechanism to continue stealing Venezuelan resources abroad.

This week, two US senators, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who are associated with lobbies of the Venezuelan extreme right in the United States, introduced a bill at the US Senate, called Preserving Accountability for National Assets Act of 2021 (PANA Act). As Ted Cruz explained in an article on his webpage, “this bill would take assets seized from individuals connected to the Chávez and Maduro regimes that are convicted of corruption and place them in a ‘Venezuela Restoration Fund’ to be used by the State Department for building up Venezuelan democracy and civil society.”

Marco Rubio declared that the “recovered” assets would be utilized to continue financing the fake government of former deputy Juan Guaidó, discredited on an international level including by allies of Washington, and the platform of the Venezuelan extreme right connected to Guaidó that pretends to be the Venezuelan parliament.

According to the aforementioned article, as of February this year, the US Department of Justice was investigating 38 cases of presumed corruption related to Venezuela, involving 164 individuals.

Only a few days ago, President Nicolás Maduro denounced the government of Joe Biden for taking $150 million seized from the Venezuelan State in order to give it to “the mafias of the Venezuelan right.” He accused that these resources would be utilized in the media warfare against the Venezuelan government.

His accusations seem to be proved correct, as Ted Cruz indicated that the funds seized by the US Department of Justice would be used to “support the efforts of independent media outlets” in Venezuela, among other things.

Featured image: US senators Marco Rubio (Florida) and Ted Cruz (Texas). Photo: Getty Images

(Mision Verdad) with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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