Venezuela Denounces Illegal Auction of CITGO

On Wednesday, the Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez denounced that the United States government continues to promote the auction of the Venezuelan state company CITGO Petroleum, a subsidiary of the state oil company PDVSA.

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This illegal auction seeks to sell CITGO to a U.S.-Israel firm whose main manager has ties to former congressman Juan Guaido.

During a parliamentary session, Rodriguez specified that it is the company Delek Holdings, of which Carlos Jordá is its CEO and assured that there is evidence that the sale of CITGO responds to a plan hatched by Guaido and former US President Donald Trump.

The Venezuelan legislator affirmed that the auction constitutes a farce through which Guaido and his allies seek to appropriate over US$15 billion in assets under the excuse of paying a debt of US1.4 billion to the Cristalex company.

“In all the courts to which Venezuela has had access, the alleged debt with Cristalex has been denounced, which does not even belong to Cristalex because the alleged debt was bought by some vulture funds,” Rodriguez said, adding that the actually existing debt is equivalent to less than US$2 million, which was even the subject of an amicable settlement with Cristalex.

The evidence collected will be forwarded to the special commission that the Bolivarian Congress created to investigate former President Donald Trump's statements about the theft of Venezuelan assets.

“Regarding Trump's confession about the intention to steal what could be stolen from Venezuela, what are the right-wing candidates and leaders going to say now?” the National Assembly President asked.

On October 23, the auction of PDV Holding, the parent company of Delek Holdings, will begin. This illegal auction was authorized by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).