Venezuela Denounces U.S. Court’s Decision Authorizing Sales of Citgo Shares

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Venezuelan government rejected a recent decision by a U.S. court that authorized the sale of shares of Citgo, a subsidiary of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) to satisfy creditors of Venezuela, calling it “procedural fraud.”

Citgo Petroleum Corporation is a United States-based refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, it is majority-owned by PDVSA.

“Venezuela denounces and deeply rejects the actions of the government of Donald Trump, in complicity with a stronghold of Venezuelan extremists who, acting in collusion, have committed transnational crimes in order to appropriate assets from Venezuela and its entities throughout the world,” the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Venezuela said the ruling “confirms that (the Trump) administration’s international relations are driven by hatred, looting, revenge, and abuse of power.”

The decision of a U.S. district court in Delaware, the ministry said, resulted from the complicity between Washington and parts of the Venezuelan opposition, led by former deputy and self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaidó.

“It is the distribution of spoils during the government’s last moments,” said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza in reference to the Trump administration, which in 2019 imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan oil industry and blocked Citgo funds in order to transfer them to Guaido.

On Thursday, January 14th, a Delaware judge authorized the sale of Citgo shares, Venezuela’s main asset abroad, in order to use the funds to compensate Canadian company Crystallex for the nationalization of a gold deposit in the South American nation and to satisfy judgments of other creditors of the Caribbean nation.