"Unilateral coercive measures and the pretension of confiscating national assets, such as the company Citgo, constitute the maximum expression of corruption."
Venezuela's permanent mission to the United Nations (UN) denounced this Tuesday before the UN Economic and Social Council the seizure by the United States of the company Citgo, a subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).
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Venezuela's alternate permanent representative to the UN, Joaquín Pérez Ayestarán said that "unilateral coercive measures and the pretension to confiscate national assets, such as the company Citgo, constitute the maximum expression of corruption, and represent criminal actions and double standards in the fight against this scourge."
His statements came within the framework of the UN Economic and Social Council meeting on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.
The permanent mission to the UN, noted on its official Twitter account that Venezuela seeks to "improve governance and fight corruption, reaffirming the national commitment to transparency, multilateralism and popular organization as the essence of the fight against corruption."
Venezuela denounces the attempt to disposses Citgo Petroleum Corporation from the venezuelan people, planned by the United States Government and extremist and unpatriotic groups from Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/b8JE8iHInA
— Embassy of Venezuela in St Kitts & Nevis (@EmbaVEStKitts) May 2, 2023
The day before, on the occasion of Workers' Day, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro denounced the "theft of the Citgo company by the U.S. government and by the Unitary Platform of Venezuela (opposition)."
The Citgo oil company has more than 10,000 gasoline pumps in the U.S. and generates annual profits of more than 1 billion dollars, the president said.
For its part, the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said it will continue defending its rights in the face of the plundering that the U.S. government, in complicity with groups of the Venezuelan extreme right, is attempting against the country's main industry.
According to a statement issued by the Minister of Petroleum, Pedro Tellechea, any payment agreement or transaction in connection with any debt, controversy, litigation, or judicial decision related to any entity in which it has a shareholding, will be null and void and illegal under Venezuelan and international law.