Venezuela Fires Back at U.S. Court CITGO Sale Ruling
The court's authorization advances the auction of the Houston-based refining operation. CITGO, owned by Venezuela's state petroleum company PDVSA, faces over $20 billion in outstanding obligations stemming from asset seizures launched under deceased President Hugo Chavez and subsequent borrowing under President Nicolas Maduro's tenure.
The latest chapter unfolded Saturday when an Elliott Investment Management subsidiary secured the winning bid.
Final transaction completion remains frozen under a protective permit from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), scheduled to lapse Dec. 20 after multiple extensions since 2019.
Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez issued Tuesday's formal condemnation, characterizing the legal proceedings as a "fraudulent process" and "a new episode in the multifaceted aggression being carried out by the United States against Venezuela."
Rodriguez contended that Venezuela's government and PDVSA were "intentionally and illegally excluded" from court proceedings, stripping them of self-defense rights under the "crude excuse" of Washington's non-recognition of the Maduro administration. She declared the Maduro government "does not and will not recognize the sale of Citgo," pinning responsibility for the asset's loss on Venezuelan opposition figures, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado.
An opposition-selected board has governed the PDVSA subsidiary since 2019, after Washington officially transferred authority following its rejection of President Nicolas Maduro's legitimacy.
The National Assembly, dominated by governing party members, countered Tuesday by announcing plans to request executive approval for citizenship revocation targeting five opposition leaders—the "main leaders" of the "gigantic theft of Citgo"—following last week's judicial green light for the transaction.
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