According to the Reuters news agency, The opposition complains that the US authorization process for the distribution of frozen Venezuelan funds has been extended. «The US promised to give its opinion on the changes made by the National Assembly, but as long as it is not clear, everything is paralyzed. Letters have been sent and the US says soon and it hasn’t happened yet,” a source told the outlet.
Members of the Venezuelan opposition are eagerly awaiting decisions by the United States (US) to once again allow the distribution of funds to support opposition lawmakers and humanitarian efforts, five sources told the news agency. Reuters.
Under the Trump administration, the United States intensified its sanctions against the South American country. He froze and seized Venezuelan government funds at the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then used the funds to support opposition lawmakers who oppose President Nicolás Maduro.
*Read also: AN-2015 exhorts the Assets Council headed by PJ to appoint an ad hoc board of PDVSA
Now opposition figures are complaining that the US clearance process needed to replace their previous point person for distributing funds, Voluntad Popular leader Juan Guaidó, is dragging out.
Guaidó, who represented Venezuela in litigation and in interactions with the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which enforces the sanctions, was removed from his position as interim president in December and replaced in January by three deputies.
The new opposition leadership has appointed a committee to take over the management of foreign assets, including funds frozen in the United States, but the committee is subject to a complex authorization process, despite the fact that the US officials have repeatedly said they support the opposition leadership.
“The United States promised to give its opinion on the changes made by the National Assembly,” said an opposition source. «As long as it is not clear everything is paralyzed. Letters have been sent out and the US says soon and it hasn’t happened yet.”
Waiting for US approvals is the latest challenge for the divided opposition, whose new leadership is struggling to gain ground against Maduro amid an easing of US sanctions and renewed relations with some neighbors.
The United States has long backed the Venezuelan opposition, recognizing its parallel legislature and denouncing the Maduro administration, which it describes as a dictatorship.
Maduro’s government opposes what it says is foreign interference by the United States in its politics, and has said the opposition stole funds belonging to the people that could be used for social and medical support.
Opposition in transition
The new head of the National Assembly elected in 2015, Dinorah Figuera, oversaw the appointment of the foreign assets committee.
Venezuela’s foreign assets include Citgo Petroleum, nearly $2 billion in gold in the Bank of England and programs, including payments to opposition activists, using assets in the United States.
“We are in a moment of transition that preserves national and international legal protection for the funds,” Figuera, of the Primero Justicia party, said when asked about Guaidó’s replacement as administrator.
US and European representatives have told members of the opposition that there must be a replacement for Guaidó to authorize the transfers, according to a source.
“There are people waiting,” another source told Reutersadding that the frozen funds earmarked for humanitarian aid are vital amid the poverty and income inequality suffered by half of Venezuelans.
The US government supports the so-called social agreement between the opposition and the government, signed last November in Mexico, to use some $3.2 billion of blocked Venezuelan accounts for humanitarian efforts, a State Department spokesman said by email.
“We have expressed our high-level support for the Mesa Social agreement,” the spokesperson said. “We regularly consult with the opposition on how we can support the Venezuelan parties in the implementation of this agreement to better meet the humanitarian needs of the Venezuelan people.”
The US Treasury Department, which oversees OFAC, declined to comment. The opposition is already looking for ways to move small amounts of money to avoid creditors and has held meetings with US officials in Washington.
Post Views: 173
