Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday said Venezuelan-US executives at refiner Citgo who were arrested in a corruption sweep this week would be tried as “corrupt, thieving traitors,” despite a request by the US to free them.
Five of six executives of US-based refiner Citgo who were arrested in Caracas are US citizens, a source familiar with the matter said, possibly complicating Venezuela’s corruption sweep of the oil industry.
The six executives included acting Citgo president Jose Pereira, who has Venezuelan citizenship and US permanent residency, the source said.
Citgo did not respond to requests for comment.
Late on Wednesday, Maduro tapped Asdrubal Chavez, a former oil minister and cousin of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, to replace Pereira.
Military intelligence agents detained the Texas-based executives during an event at state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela’s headquarters in Caracas on Tuesday, two sources told reporters.
Citgo is a Venezuelan-owned refiner and marketer of oil and petrochemical products.
The US embassy had requested that its nationals be freed, Maduro said.
He mocked the demand and vowed that the men, who are also Venezuelan, would pay for alleged wrongdoing in a financial deal.
“These are people born in Venezuela, they’re Venezuelan and they’re going to be judged for being corrupt, thieving traitors,” Maduro said in a televised broadcast, during which he also sang and danced salsa. “They’re properly behind bars, and they should go to the worst prison in Venezuela.”
Relations between Caracas and Washington have long been tense. They have further soured under US President Donald Trump since his administration imposed sanctions on Venezuelan officials, including Maduro, and economic sanctions that have impeded the OPEC nation’s access to international banks.
Venezuela has defaulted on sovereign debt and bonds issued by the state-run oil firm after failing to make timely payments, a New York-based derivatives group ruled on Thursday last week.
Late on Wednesday, a US Department of State official said: “We have seen media reports of the arrest of US citizens in Venezuela. Venezuela is required under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to provide consular notification to the US upon request of a detained US citizen, and to provide consular access.”
“When a US citizen is arrested overseas, we immediately request permission to visit him or her. We have no additional information to offer at this time,” the official added.
Venezuelan Prosecutor General Tarek Saab has declared a “crusade” against “organized crime” in Venezuela’s oil industry.
Saab on Tuesday told a news conference that his office had uncovered an about US$4 billion planned deal with foreign companies, offering the refiner as guarantee in a detrimental deal for Venezuela.
According to Saab, the deal was with US investment fund Apollo Global Management and Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Frontier Management Group, and also included a Swiss-based intermediary, Mangore Sarl.
He added that there was a “presumed” link between Mangore Sarl and the Citgo executives.
Opposition leaders have attributed the arrests to infighting among government factions and the cash-strapped government’s desire to gain control of moneymaking companies, rather than a genuine desire to root out corruption.
Venezuela has whipped out much of Citgo’s top brass at a delicate time for the OPEC nation, which has been declared in selective default after some late payments.
However, as Venezuela is making efforts to pay, bondholders of some of the world’s highest yielding debt have so far been tolerant of the delays.
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