The administration of US President Donald Trump on Thursday temporarily shielded Venezuela’s opposition coalition led by Juan Guaido from losing the country’s prized US-based Citgo refineries.
The opposition is banking on profits from its Houston-based company to fund the crisis-torn nation’s recovery — if it is able to force Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power.
The US Department of the Treasury issued an order giving Guaido’s team three months to “restructure or refinance payments,” by suspending the terms of some financial sanctions that were originally intended to pressure Maduro from office.
A likely failure to make a US$913 million debt payment due on Monday could have triggered foreclosure.
Guaido said that US officials are helping to protect Venezuelan assets that Maduro’s government exploited at the people’s expense.
‘FUTURE MORTGAGED’
“For years, the regime indebted the nation, mortgaging the future of Venezuelans who today suffer from a complex humanitarian emergency,” he said on Twitter. “We are managing to maintain assets that the regime had looted.”
Citgo in a statement said it was “gratified” by the department’s decision.
Venezuela has owned Citgo since the 1980s as part of the state-run oil company PDVSA. It has three refineries in Louisiana, Texas and Illinois in addition to a network of pipelines crisscrossing 23 states. It provides between 5 and 10 percent of US gasoline.
Guaido claimed presidential powers in January as head of the opposition-led National Assembly, vowing to end Maduro’s rule and two decades of socialist leadership as the nation struggles in political and economic crisis.
After the Trump administration recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, US courts granted approval to a board appointed by the opposition to take control of Citgo, valued at an estimated US$8 billion.
MADURO MOVES
In 2016, Maduro’s government made a deal with some bondholders of PDVSA, agreeing to swap their bonds for new ones maturing next year.
Maduro gave the creditors 50.1 percent of Citgo as collateral, despite objections from the National Assembly, which said that the deal was illegally carried out without its approval.
Maduro accuses the opposition of illegally getting control of Citgo, saying it is part of the “imperialist” US’ attempt to install Guaido as a “puppet” government.
Russ Dallen, a broker at Miami-based Caracas Capital Markets, said that in a post-Maduro world, Citgo would be a significant source of income to rebuild Venezuela by refining and selling crude from the country’s vast reserves.
“Citgo is their sure thing,” Dallen said. “It is guaranteed fast cash whenever you need it. Citgo can turn around and sell that oil or refine it.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in