A CITGO refinery at Corpus Christi, Texas. Photo: Eric Gay/Associated Press/File photo.
The president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, PSUV Deputy Jorge Rodríguez condemned an alleged deal between the “ad hoc president” appointed by Juan Guaidó during his fake “interim government,” Carlos Jordá, and the Israeli company Delek US Holding, owned by billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva, to auction off CITGO, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan national oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in the United States. Rodríguez added that Jordá was executive director of Delek US Holding’s US subsidiary until 2019 and has shares in it.
The intended auction may take place in June 2024. Jordá sent a message to the CITGO workers, informing them that the process will begin in October 2023, said Deputy Rodríguez on Friday, July 28. CITGO is valued at about 15 billion USD and has been illegally seized by the US government in its failed “regime change” operation against Venezuela.
Rodríguez emphasized that the Organic Law of Asset Forfeiture approved in the National Assembly is applicable against Jordá “to pay for the damage he is doing to the assets and properties of the Venezuelan state that the Guaidó gang planning to steal.”
According to the Venezuelan opposition, the auction of CITGO is expected to result in a change of ownership.
Jordá has accumulated a net worth of 2 million USD and holds Delek US Holding shares worth over 1 million USD.
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“The moment Jorda came to know that a US court was going to rule in favor of Crystallex [Canadian mining company whose Venezuelan assets were nationalized by the Chávez administration] in its legal battle against CITGO, he sent the letter to the workers so that the value of the shares of the Israeli company would go up,” Rodríguez said.
Rodríguez asked Deputy Pedro Infante, president of the commission that is assessing the confession of former US President Donald Trump on the US intentions of appropriating Venezuelan oil, to investigate Jorda’s case as well.
“We have to insist, we have to apply the laws that have to be applied. If this gentleman or his frontmen are involved, the law must be applied,” Deputy Rodríguez stressed.
(Misión Verdad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
