The Government of Venezuela issued this Monday a statement rejecting the attempted dispossession of the Citgo company by the authorities of the United States, USA, in alliance with sectors of the opposition extremism grouped in the so-called “Unitary Platform”.
In the text released by the Foreign Minister of the Republic Yván Gil through his account on the social network Twitter, Venezuela denounces before the international community the policy of sustained aggression of the US Government, through restrictive and punitive measures, which are constitute a looting of the resources of the Venezuelan people.
He points out that this action represents a blow against the talks in Mexico and the international conference on Venezuela called by Colombian President Gustavo Petro as part of efforts to promote an end to diplomatic and economic aggression against Venezuela.
Likewise, it warns that “any payment or transaction in relation to any debt, controversy, litigation or judicial decision (…) that is negotiated, entered into and/or executed within the framework of the license of the Office of Control of Foreign Assets of the Government of the United States (Ofac) or any other general or specific license (…) is void and illegal under the laws of Venezuela”.
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reserves the right to take legal measures at its disposal to prevent this new aggression from taking place and to determine the corresponding criminal responsibilities inside and outside our territory,” the statement underlines.
Statement rejecting the divestiture of Citgo
“Communiqué regarding the attempt to dispossess the Venezuelan people of the Citgo Petroleum Corporation, planned by the United States government and extremist and stateless groups of Venezuelan politics”, published the Chancellor next to the text.
Below we reproduce the full text of the statement from the Republic of Venezuela.
The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces before the international community the policy of sustained aggression of the government of the United States of America, through its unilateral and illegal coercive measures, judicial decisions and other measures of a restrictive and punitive nature, aimed at control and appropriate their assets abroad with the mediation of the opposition Unitary Platform, who in stateless conduct insist on causing irreversible damage to our people, constituting a looting of the resources of Venezuelans.
The Government of the United States of America, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department, acting in bad faith, violating all legal principles, including those of an internal nature, colludes with extremist groups of Venezuelan politics and intend to dispossess the people of Venezuela, through an illegal and immoral expropriation, of the Citgo Petroleum Corporation. A rapacious and criminal action with the sole objective of causing the maximum possible damage to the citizens of our country.
These actions hit the dialogues in Mexico and constitute a blow against the international conference on the Venezuelan political process, convened by the President of Colombia Gustavo Petro, in which almost unanimously, the attending countries demanded that the US government stop the aggression, immediately lifting criminal sanctions and the blockade against Venezuela.
The Republic warns that any payment agreement or transaction in relation to any debt, controversy, litigation or judicial decision related to the Republic and/or any entity in which it has a shareholding, that is negotiated, entered into and/or executed under the General License 42 issued by OFAC, or any other general or specific license, as well as any decision derived from them, issued by foreign bodies, entities or Public Powers, is void and illegal under the laws of Venezuela and in accordance with International Law, for which will not be recognized by the Venezuelan State, nor by its organs of Public Power, including the National Executive of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, represented by President Nicolás Maduro Moros.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reserves the right to take all legal measures at its disposal to prevent this new aggression from taking place and to determine the corresponding criminal responsibilities, inside and outside our territory.
Venezuela reiterates its complaint against the United States of America for actions that violate the right to free trade and international law and reiterates its commitment to uphold the rights of all the Venezuelan people.
Maduro denounced “blatant theft” of Citgo
The President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, repudiated the robbery of the oil refining company Citgo -owned by Venezuela-, by the government of the United States (USA).
“They came up with an unworthy resolution, which is a direct message of surrender. They have decided to hand over Citgo to a group of unknown people,” denounced the head of state, leading the mobilization of thousands of Venezuelan workers, who toured the streets of Caracas on Monday.
For this reason, Maduro described the action against the subsidiary of the state oil company PDVSA as a “blatant robbery”, of a company estimated at more than 8 billion dollars and more than 10,000 gasoline pumps in the US.
“Supposedly they will hand it over to the leadership of the last National Assembly (AN), which no longer exists in Venezuela. A people that none of us know, who live abroad running away like rats, ”he wielded.
OFAC license
Earlier this Monday, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a license allowing the extinct parliament elected in 2015 to negotiate some outstanding debts related to the Venezuelan company. This leaves open the possibility of auctioning it off to cancel the commitments with creditors who have not been paid for four years.
