The asset management committee installed by the NA needs the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to grant them a license to control the more than $347 million that the Guaidó administration previously managed for litigation and other expenses.
The international game was blocked for the National Assembly (AN) elected in 2015, because when making the decision to eliminate the interim, they lost legal representation before the United States and, therefore, cannot manage the Venezuelan funds guarded in the international community .
Now the opposition NA finds itself in a stumbling block as it does not have funds to pay for the litigation that Venezuela is facing in the United States, through which Venezuelan assets such as Citgo, a subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) based in Oklahoma, are disputed.
According to a post by Bloombergthe opposition tries to discuss the issuance of a license that allows the opposition to control these assets despite the disappearance of the figure of Juan Guaidó as an authority recognized by the United States.
The opposition parties that promoted the dissolution of the interim, Acción Democrática (AD), Primero Justicia (PJ), Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) and Movimiento Por Venezuela (MPV) maintained the AN despite the expiration of its constitutional period in order to establish a committee to protect and manage Venezuela’s assets abroad, but they need the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to grant them a license to control the more than $347 million previously managed by the Guaidó administration .
As of February, the opposition owed an estimated $9.4 million in debt to seven law firms representing Venezuela’s legal battles abroad, according to a report presented to their lawmakers by former attorney general Enrique Sánchez Falcón. It also owes approximately $2,000 in monthly salaries to its more than 100 legislators, according to what they told Bloomberg four people familiar with the situation.
*Also read: Reuters: Opposition eager to move frozen assets
Venezuela faces at least 145 lawsuits worth $26 billion abroad, most of them in the US, according to the latest update from Sánchez Falcón in February. Among the leading cases is a trial in a District of Columbia court over the expropriation of ConocoPhillips’ oil rights, for which the company obtained an order for the country to pay it $10 billion.
“With the dismantling of the interim government, the possibility of continuing with legal support is something that has yet to be defined,” opposition leader Leopoldo López said on a visit to Bloomberg’s office in Washington. “Right now, without a specific license that allows that, that’s not possible. It’s the same for legislators.”
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