More pressure on Maduro: USA will freeze the accounts and assets of the Venezuelan oil company – 28/01/2019



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The government of Donald Trump On Monday, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the Venezuelan central bank were sanctioned, a strong measure that add pressure and try to smother to the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

In an executive order, the US president announced that freezing of accounts and badets abroad of the Government of Venezuela and persons affiliated to the "illegitimate regime of Maduro". And he specified that the term "Venezuelan Government" meant any agency of the Venezuelan State, including the Central Bank of Venezuela and Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), as well as any person owning or controlling directly or indirectly these agencies , especially their members. of Maduro's diet.

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The sanctions are in addition to the recent London decision of deny the Venezuelan president the withdrawal of 1,200 million dollars in gold deposited at the Bank of England and seek to stifle even more the income of the Venezuelan political and military elite who manage the national oil company and that the United States denounce as a source of corruption and money laundering. Although it is not an oil embargo, it is estimated in Washington that the freezing of funds will ensure that the Maduro regime does not send more oil to this country.

The White House statement does not mention that paralyzed funds will be transferred to the interim government of the President of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, as previously had dropped the Wall Street Journal and Republican Senator Marco Rubio. But it is not excluded that in the future they can reach their handsbecause they will remain stuck in the accounts. The Trump government was the first to recognize Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela.

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PDVSA provides more than 90% of Venezuela's tax revenues and it owns the US subsidiary Citgo Petroleum, the largest state badet outside the country. Until now, Washington has ignored the Venezuelan oil sector in terms of sanctions, mainly because of potentially catastrophic effects for Venezuelans and damage to US businesses and consumers.

Venezuelan oil accounts for 7% of the total imports by the United States. In 2018, Caracas exported about 17 million barrels a month and shipments fell over the last decade, as the country's production fell in the midst of its long economic and political crisis. National Security Advisor, John Bolton, spoke with the press with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and said he expected the measures taken against PDVSA would result in the loss of more than $ 11 billion in exports next year.

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The oil coming from Venezuela is not of high quality and needs to be refined in several companies in South America, especially in Texas. It has always been feared that a possible paralysis of the arrival of Venezuelan crude may affect the local industry. This is why Mnuchin made it clear that in the "short term" he was expecting "only a modest impact" on refineries in the United States.

Mnuchin said the United States was concerned about the "tragic decline of Venezuela" and added that Houston-based Citgo Petroleum will continue to work but will not be able to return the money to the Maduro scheme. Your income should be left in blocked accounts by the United States. "We will continue to use all the diplomatic and economic tools at our disposal to support Juan Guaidó", Mnuchin added.

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On Monday, Guaidó had announced that he had ordered the "transfer" of the country's accounts abroad to avoid "looting", while he had begun the process of appointing new directors of Citgo and PDVSA who no longer responded to Maduro. but to the caretaker government.

US pressure continues, beyond oil. Bolton called on the Venezuelan army to "Accept a peaceful transfer of power" in Guaidó. "We have denounced the corruption of Maduro and his friends and the action of today guarantees that they will not be able to continue looting the property of the Venezuelan people," Bolton said.

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Consulted by ClarinPaula Garcia Tufro, deputy director of the Adrienne Arsht Center for Latin America at the Atlantic Council, said that Monday's sanctions were not a surprise: they have been waiting for some time. The United States had already indicated that they would, especially in November, when they sanctioned the gold sector and left the door open for other types of measures. "

The expert said that they had disciplined Maduro, but that they "have not gone the next step, that is, that". they do not redirect funds to Guaidó. It's an intermediate step, they took care not to go further. This is in keeping with what Guaidó said, that he called progressive and orderly process in terms of badet control management that belong to the Venezuelan people. On both sides, they treat him with great caution. "

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García Tufro points out that "There will clearly be an impact, albeit contained, in American refineries that work with Venezuelan oil." In addition, for these companies, the decision "was not a surprise.When there is a domestic industry that is going to be affected, the US government is discussing it with these industries.And they will surely try to limit the industry. But the more belated the control of the Venezuelan government by Gaudió, the greater the impact, the same as in the internal price of fuel. "

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