Venezuela rejects U.S. Treasury's decision related to CITGO

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez spoke in relation to the actions that the United States intends to undertake to strip the Venezuelan State of the ownership of Citgo Petroleum Corporation (CITGO).

Accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Ivan Gil and Oil Minister Tellechea Ruiz, she analyzed the politically-motivated actions carried out against the Bolivarian nation by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Amid President Joe Biden's re-election campaign, the U.S. government authorized the start of the judicial auction of CITGO, the main asset of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA abroad.  Delcy Rodriguez explained that the OFAC license granted to the extinct National Assembly represents a violation of both Venezuelan law and international law.

"The license 42 allows fraud and authorizes the self-proclaimed 'National Assembly of 2015' to initiate negotiation processes with the PDVSA's creditors," the Vice President said.  She emphasized that President Nicolas Maduro's administration "will not recognize any type of payment agreement to any creditor" that has not been led by the Venezuelan State.

Rodriguez also recalled that the right-wing opposition have been actively operating to strip the people of the assets that the Venezuelan State has abroad.  In order to do so, in 2017, they created a fake CITGO board of directors.  Subsequently, a U.S. court registered a list of creditors claiming to have rights to the Venezuelan assets.

Later, on January 9, 2023, OFAC issued a license through which the so-called "National Assembly of 2015" obtained spurious recognition given that those former legislators no longer exercise functions.