Days ago, a US judge in Delaware, Leonard Stark, authorized the sale – or theft – of the shares of the Venezuelan refinery CITGO. It is a subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) on North American soil. He justified the ruling to «indemnify the Canadian company Crystallex», as retaliation to the measure of the Venezuelan Government, more than a decade ago, to revoke the permission to exploit a gold deposit in the south of the South American country.
The concessions to operate in Venezuela were revoked by former President Hugo Chávez, for not complying with environmental and labor regulations. In the case of Crystallex, it was legally excluded from the exploitation of the gold mine ‘Las Cristinas’ in 2011. Since then, it began a complex trajectory of lawsuits that resulted, five years later, in a ruling by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in favor of the plaintiffs.
Venezuela was required to pay an arbitration award of $ 1.2 billion, plus interest, to compensate Crystallex for alleged lost investments in the country. In March 2017, the District of Columbia Court became an accessory to the theft and recognized the enforcement of the award.
José Ignacio Hernández described himself as Juan Guaidó’s “attorney” to steal Venezuela’s resources abroad. In this case, he pretended to «represent» the interests of Venezuela in the false government, despite having worked for Crystallex. He designed the argument that would support the claim of the Canadian miner to keep CITGO as a form of payment. In other words, they want to ‘legalize’ the theft.
The case reached the federal courts of Delaware and its resolution became complicated in 2019. Everything happened in parallel to the rise of Guaidó in the strategy of the White House against Venezuela. By legitimizing Guaidó’s ‘interim’, they changed the face of the defendants in the US courts, reflecting a clash of interests.
In addition, Judge Stark dismissed motions filed by both CITGO Petroleum and its parent, PDV Holding (PDVH); as from Venezuela to stop the embargo, cites a report from Misión Verdad.
Why is CITGO so coveted?
CITGO’s features are quite coveted: its shares are valued at $ 8 billion. In addition, it owns a complex of three refineries in Louisiana, Texas and Illinois; and a network of pipelines that runs through 23 states. It also supplies between 5% and 10% of the gasoline consumed in the United States.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the three CITGO refineries together processed some 750,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude. With this, they supplied a network of about 10,000 gas stations throughout the country.
In January 2019, Guaidó proclaimed himself ‘interim president’ and was recognized by Washington. Immediately, the Donald Trump administration imposed sanctions on PDVSA that included blocking CITGO funds. The objective – in the background – was to transfer them to Guaidó’s team.
The control of CITGO is in the middle of the struggle between the legitimate Government of Venezuela and Juan Guaidó. On the one hand, the US authorities recognize Guaidó’s ad hoc board of directors. On the other hand, the Government of Nicolás Maduro accuses opponents of appropriating a State asset.
«Accrediting Venezuela’s position could annul all this litigation», argued Judge Stark. Likewise, he pointed out that Crystallex «has prevailed in all the courts that have considered any aspect of this case».
Stark determined that a person in charge of supervising the sale procedure will be appointed. In that operation, neither Venezuela nor PDVSA will be able to have control, reports the Spanish agency EFE.
Crystallex was aided by the Guaidó clan
The Canadian company will need to obtain a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury. Only then, will it be able to carry out the operation, due to the sanctions imposed by Washington. In August 2018, the same judge had authorized the seizure of CITGO in favor of Crystallex.
In a statement, Guaidó’s team pointed out that although the ruling «favors Crystallex’s request», it reaffirms that «said sale may not be carried out as long as the protection obtained by the Legitimate Government through the Treasury Department exists».
“It is essential to bear in mind that the oil subsidiary and other assets of the nation are still at risk due to the irresponsible actions of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, who – along with their accomplices – compromised the assets of the nation in an unscrupulous way, without caring about the well-being of Venezuelans and the future of the country”, adds Guaidó’s statement. Thus, he seeks to blame the Chavismo, ignoring that he is the main promoter of these actions against CITGO.
The Canadian mining company is claiming 1.4 billion dollars for the nationalization of the ‘Las Cristinas’ gold deposit in 2008. It contains one of the largest gold deposits in the world, so the embargo on the shares will serve to satisfy the debt.
In 2009, Venezuela agreed with the Chinese State investment corporation Citic Group to develop the gold mine. From there, it estimates that about 13 million ounces of that metal can be extracted.
Venezuela rejects the infamous decision
After knowing the decision of Judge Stark, Caracas strongly rejected «the infamous decision of a court in Delaware». This was reported by the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.
The Foreign Ministry blamed the outgoing president, Donald Trump, in complicity with the extremists linked to Guaidó for this theft. Together, they have committed transnational crimes to appropriate the assets of Venezuela and its entities in the world.
The Maduro government indicated that «the arbitrary decision is nothing more than a new aggression by the dying government of Donald Trump against the noble people of Venezuela».
«The Federal Court for the District of Delaware (…) decided to initiate the preparatory phases for the sale of the shares of the company PDV Holding, owner of CITGO», said the statement. This, «with the supposed purpose of forcibly executing an arbitration award issued against Venezuela by an ICSID Tribunal in 2016, which has nothing to do with PDVSA, Citgo Holding, Inc and Citgo Petroleum Corporation, (CITGO)».
«This sentence, in the dying hours of the outgoing government of Donald Trump, confirms that the international relations of this administration are driven by hatred, looting, revenge and the abuse of power as a criminal exercise of public power». highlighted the statement.
CITGO’s spoils
The text adds that this decision means «the distribution of the spoils at the last minute of that government with the complicity of its failed local puppet (Juan Guaidó) to accentuate the revenge against a company that belongs to all Venezuelans».
«The illegitimate and illicit appropriation -the theft- of Citgo has been forged under the instructions of ex-deputy Juan Guaidó and executed by José Ignacio Hernández (…)», states the text.
The Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, explained that «it is public knowledge that, who acted as a false attorney (Hernández) in the trials brought by the Republic before international judicial instances, had and maintains economic ties with the Claimant, Crystallex International Corp. (Crystallex)».
«He also acted, deliberately with absolute clumsiness and inexperience, vulgarly usurping public functions before the United States justice, invoking an alleged representation that he never had so as to deliver the legitimate interests of Venezuela», said Arreaza in the text.
«The sole purpose of these actions was to provide a legal veil to the criminal delivery of the assets of all Venezuelans to the Government of Donald Trump, to a group of businessmen related to it, and to Venezuelan extremists», said the Foreign Minister in the text.
Hostility and violation of legitimate defense
The Foreign Minister also denounced that the judicial measure violates international law. This theft also violates the right to self-defense that prevails in any legal conflict.
«The action of the US judge, Stark, is in such a hostile way against Venezuela that he suggests to other creditors, who were not a party in the lawsuit under his charge, to appear to participate in the ‘scramble’ he has declared around CITGO’s shares», pointed out the Minister Arreaza.
In this sense, he alerted the world that «the judicial operation has not only been encouraged by the Government of Donald Trump, but the legitimate representatives of Venezuela have been prevented from having a proper, comprehensive and effective defense».
In addition, he emphasizes that the measure violates and attacks the patrimonial interests of Venezuela and PDVSA. To the blatant theft, he adds the imposition of unilateral coercive measures.
Arreaza warns that the total blockade is a negative precedent for other nations that may be victims of US hegemony and others, such as the United Kingdom and the European Union. «They can do whatever they want, against any people, without receiving any kind of punishment», he declared.
«We alert the international community of the danger it represents for foreign investments and companies in the United States, and the very serious risk to which their interests are subject to with maneuvers of this nature».
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