In the agreement approved by the AN this Tuesday, not only was the “process of plundering of Citgo’s shares” rejected, but any decision by US courts in this regard was declared “null and void.” In addition, the Public Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office were urged to deepen the investigations and apply the Domain Forfeiture Law and the Simón Bolívar Organic Law “to the actors who have facilitated this plunder.”
The National Assembly approved this Tuesday, December 2, an appeal to the Executive of Nicolás Maduro to withdraw the nationality of five opponents, including two former parliamentarians, for being “ringleaders” in what they called the “gigantic theft of Citgo.”
PDVSA’s subsidiary in the United States is currently in the process of being sold for $5.9 billion, authorized by Delaware Judge Leonard Stark, to a company belonging to the investment fund Elliot Investment Management.
After the reading of an agreement for the “looting” of the company, a proposal was included, expressed by the president of parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, and approved unanimously, for the Maduro Executive to confirm the “withdrawal of nationality” of the lawyer José Ignacio Hernández, Juan Guaidó, Carlos Vecchio, Dinorah Figuera and Horacio Medina, who were identified as “the main ringleaders of the gigantic theft of Citgo.”
Jorge Rodríguez said that these people were part of a “brutal network” to obtain Citgo’s dividends, and asserted that they have demonstrated a “criminal particularity”, which is why article 130 of the Constitution and the application of the Simón Bolívar Organic Law must be insisted upon.
The first vice president of the AN, Pedro Infante, who presented the initial agreement, said that the authorized sale of Citgo was made “at a cheap price,” while pointing out that the United States Government did not respect economic law.
“Any country, any businessman has to know that in the United States, if you provoke them, they will sell you their company,” he warned.
The parliamentarian also pointed out that, based on the work of a special commission, it was possible to identify 351 “responsible in the country for the Citgo theft”, among them 94 parliamentarians, 108 “pseudo officials” who participated in parallel institutions or ad hoc boards and 149 people who, he said, are from “boards of directors of NGOs that have received and still receive financing through the Simón Bolívar Foundation of Citgo.”
Likewise, he said that “several political parties and organizations” are also involved as responsible because “when they voted here, they voted as a bench.”
In the approved agreement, not only was the “process of plundering of Citgo’s shares” rejected, but any decision by US courts in this regard was declared “null and void.” It was also requested to denounce in international forums the “legal war and multiform economic aggression” that, according to parliament, Venezuela is a victim of by the United States.
In addition, the Public Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office were urged to deepen the investigations and apply the Domain Forfeiture Law and the Simón Bolívar Organic Law “to the actors who have facilitated this plunder.”
For his part, opposition deputy Carlos Melo asked to include among the people investigated Manuel Rodríguez, Nelson Lugo, Carlos Suárez and Gabriel Gallo, who are part of the ad hoc board of directors of the Central Bank of Venezuela.
He stated that they “are the ones who have maintained this spree and expenditure of money by that opposition” who, he said, “continue to receive economic resources… The rootlessness they have for their country and the way in which they have plotted this scam that allows them to rob Venezuela is aberrant.”
While deputy María Iris Varela (PSUV) proposed that the amount of assets, goodwill, companies, vehicles and real estate that belong to those investigated and that be confiscated via the Asset Forfeiture Law be published.
“Their entire miserable lives will not be enough to pay for the damage they have done to the country, because it is not only the material damage, but also the damage caused by the deaths of compatriots who had their right to health guaranteed,” he stated.
José Brito (Primero Venezuela) accused the lawyer José Ignacio Hernández of “a legal perversion” that, he assured, “has been brewing for 17 years” to favor Cristallex and other companies.
He also indicated that the last valuation made to Citgo “already exceeded 13,000 million dollars, but this banditry intends to sell it for 5,900 million dollars.”
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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