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☆ Venezuelan president names new head of PDVSA, foreign minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CARACAS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday named Pedro Rafael Tellechea as the new head of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) (PDVSA.UL) and said Yvan Gil Pinto would become the new foreign minister. Exports this year are expected to get a lift after the United States relaxed oil sanctions by authorizing some PDVSA partners to resume taking Venezuelan crude. Former head of PDVSA Asdrubal Chavez, a cousin of late President Hugo Chavez and former oil minister, will soon have new responsibilities, Maduro added. In a separate tweet, Maduro named Gil Pinto to head the country's diplomacy. "It's a great responsibility I'm sure he will perform with great professionalism," Maduro said about Gil Pinto, who had been serving as vice-minister for Europe.

Guaido in 2019 won the recognition of scores of nations including the United States after the widely disputed election that kept Nicolas Maduro in power. The removal of the interim government "ended up undermining attachments among opposition leadership," said Piero Trepiccione, of Caracas' Gumilla thinktank. The opposition, many of whose leaders are in exile or barred from politics, has not held a primary for a decade. The United States has said it will continue to recognize the opposition assembly. Changing the presidential election to this year instead of next may also serve Maduro, Nicholas Watson of consulting firm Teneo said in a report.

☆ Venezuela’s Wager to Oust Maduro With Parallel Government Ends
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Ryan Dube | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Venezuela’s Juan Guaidó, once recognized by more than 60 countries as his country’s rightful president, was stripped of his position on Thursday when the opposition dissolved a U.S.-backed parallel government that had failed to oust strongman Nicolás Maduro . With Mr. Guaidó out, lawmakers from Venezuela’s battered opposition will create a committee to oversee billions of dollars in assets abroad that had come under the control of the so-called interim government. They will also try to negotiate conditions for free and fair elections in 2024.

☆ Venezuela inflation accelerating, heightening risk of return to hyperinflation, economists say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CARACAS, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Venezuelan consumer prices rose at a sharp 37.2% clip in December from November, heightening the risk of a return to hyperinflation, according to estimates by the Venezuelan Finance Observatory, a non-governmental group of economists. The private inflation estimate is key since Venezuela's central bank, which in October said annual inflation hit 155%, one of the highest rates globally, has not released consumer price data since then. For nine consecutive months, consumer price inflation was in the single digits thanks to strict policies implemented by President Nicolas Maduro's government, anchoring the exchange rate, limiting public spending and increasing taxes. After the policies were rolled out, authorities said Venezuela had emerged from a four-year streak of hyperinflation. The central bank did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez ViloriaCARACAS, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition national assembly on Thursday appointed three exiled lawmakers to direct it and create a commission to control foreign assets, including oil refiner Citgo (PDVSAC.UL). The assembly voted last week to remove Juan Guaido, the public face of the fractious opposition since 2019, as its interim president. The new leadership triumvirate is assembly president Dinorah Figuera and vice-presidents Marianela Fernandez and Auristela Vasquez - from opposition parties Justice First, A New Era and Democratic Action respectively. The new leadership will designate a five-member commission to manage foreign assets like Citgo, a subsidiary of state-owned oil company PDVSA. Because of its backing abroad, the opposition is able to control foreign assets based in other countries, like $1 billion in gold stored at the Bank of England.

But a plan to move heavy oil quickly from inventories at the Petroboscan joint venture with state-run company PDVSA is facing delays because of lack of dredging at Maracaibo Lake's navigation channel, the people said. Petroboscan has instructed vessels since to limit their draft after loading at the Bajo Grande oil terminal. That means about 250,000 barrels of Boscan heavy crude can move at a time through the channel linking Bajo Grande to the Caribbean Sea. In a sign that Chevron expects to expand operations quickly, the oil producer has begun advertising for Venezuelan contract administrators and cargo schedulers. The company wants to assemble a trading team to market oil from Venezuela and expand its role in the four projects.

☆ Chevron to send 500,000-barrel cargo of Venezuelan oil to its Pascagoula refinery
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HOUSTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - U.S. oil producer Chevron Corp (CVX.N) plans to export this month its first cargo of Venezuelan crude to its Pascagoula, Mississippi refinery following a U.S. license granted last year, according to shipping documents seen by Reuters on Tuesday. The 500,000-barrel cargo of Hamaca heavy crude, to be loaded at state-run PDVSA's Jose port, comes from the Petropiar oil joint venture operated by both companies. As of Tuesday, the tanker scheduled to carry the shipment, the Bahamas-flagged Caribbean Voyager, was waiting to load near Jose, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. Chevron declined to comment on Tuesday and PDVSA did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Washington had previously authorized Italy's Eni (ENI.MI) and Spain's Repsol (REP.MC) to recoup pending debts in Venezuela by taking Venezuelan crude for refining in Europe.

☆ After years, private vehicles start crossing Colombia-Venezuela border again
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Juan Pablo BayonaURENA, Venezuela, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Private vehicles started crossing between Colombia and Venezuela for the first time in years on Sunday, marking the total opening of the shared border, in addition to cargo and people that have been transiting. The full opening of the common border follows years of tense relations between the two countries that have eased after Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a leftist, took office in August last year. German Umana, Colombia's commerce minister, told reporters at the crossing that the move would be positive for the economies and societies of both countries. "We will never allow it again," Umana said in reference to closure of the border. Late last year, Colombian and Venezuelan authorities authorized the opening of the crossing on the Atanasio Girardot bridge, known as Tienditas, the western Venezuelan border state Tachira state.

☆ Venezuelan opposition strips Juan Guaidó of ‘presidential’ role
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

CARACAS, Venezuela — For three years, Juan Guaidó led the Venezuelan opposition’s efforts to bring about new elections and remove socialist President Nicolás Maduro. The vote reflects a changing balance of power within the opposition, which is trying to find new ways to connect with voters ahead of the nation’s 2024 presidential election. Three of Venezuela’s four main opposition parties backed the proposal to remove Guaidó, who was supported only by his own Popular Will party. After the vote, Guaidó said the move would create a “power vacuum” that could encourage more foreign nations to recognize the Maduro administration. So the opposition legislators created an “interim government,” headed by Guaidó, that was meant to last until Maduro stepped down and free elections could be held.

☆ Venezuela’s U.S.-Backed Opposition Removes Juan Guaidó as Its Leader
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Kejal Vyas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Venezuela’s biggest opposition parties voted to remove Juan Guaidó as their leader, marking an end to a bold, U.S.-backed political gambit in which he was recognized as the country’s legitimate president as part of an unsuccessful bid to oust authoritarian Nicolás Maduro from power. Lawmakers, scattered in exile around the world, voted in a Zoom call to restructure their movement, removing Mr. Guaidó and eliminating the so-called interim government he leads. The interim government had been recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate government by more than 60 countries when it was created in early 2019. But now, the U.S. and only a handful of allies continue to recognize the Guaido-led movement, while Mr. Maduro maintains an ironclad grip on the country with support from Russia, Iran and China.

A spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council said President Joe Biden's administration will continue to back Venezuela's interim government "regardless of what form it takes." He did not comment on whether that support included extending a key protection to Citgo under the new structure. Another potential scenario with the commission taking over: a new U.S. court battle over the legitimacy of Citgo's board of directors. A federal court in 2020 ratified the executives appointed by Guaido to run Citgo. Lawyers advising Citgo's supervisory boards have warned about the challenges of presenting a new government structure before U.S. courts.

☆ Venezuela and Colombia fully reopen shared border
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CARACAS, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Venezuela and Colombia will fully reopen their shared border on January 1 to allow passage of cargo and passenger transport via the cross-border Tienditas bridge, Colombia Migration said in a statement on Saturday. The South American countries already reopened in September their border crossing in the Tachira state, in western Venezuela, after political ties strengthened under Colombia's new president, Gustavo Petro. Colombian authorities have said since September that the reopening of the shared 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles) border between the two countries would be progressive. Elsewhere, people and cargo can already cross the border via two bridges in Tachira as well as the western Zulia state. The commercial exchange between the two countries is worth around $580 million, according to official data from Colombia.

☆ Venezuela opposition removes interim President Guaido
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Mayela Armas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Supporters say opposition control of foreign assets is not at risk and the dissolution is necessary for unity ahead of the elections. "There are already tools to protect the assets in the United States, the United Kingdom, Portugal," said Justice First lawmaker Juan Miguel Matheus. Both the article eliminating the interim government and the article creating the assets commission passed with 72 votes in favor, 29 against and 8 abstentions. Guaido, whose Voluntad Popular party did not back the effort, had urged lawmakers to replace him instead of dissolving the interim government. The United States will continue to support the opposition, the assembly and the interim government "regardless of what form it takes," a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council said on Friday.

☆ Venezuela foreign assets will not pass to Maduro -opposition
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Vivian Sequera | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CARACAS, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Opposition lawmakers in Venezuela seeking the removal of Juan Guaido as the country's interim president said on Thursday that foreign assets will not pass to the government of President Nicolas Maduro if Guaido is removed from his post. Three of four major opposition groups - Justice First, Democratic Action and A New Era - are backing a bill to oust Guaido and create a five-member commission to manage foreign assets, especially U.S.-based refiner Citgo, a subsidiary of state-owned oil company PDVSA. The effort received initial approval from the assembly last week, despite warnings from Guaido that Maduro could take control of assets abroad, but must be voted on a second time. But Maduro has remained in control of nearly all Venezuela's institutions, including its security forces, and Guaido's interim government, which has control over some foreign assets and runs many embassies, has seen international support wane. The Supreme Court in the United Kingdom - where Maduro has sued for access to the gold - has ruled British courts are bound to accept their government does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela's president "for any purpose."

☆ U.S. court rejects bid by Maduro ally to dismiss money laundering charges
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Sarah Morland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Saab Moran is being held in a Miami jail awaiting trial on charges of money laundering in the case. He was extradited to the United States the following year. The court rejected the validity of a 2018 credential used by Saab Moran to claim diplomatic status, adding it was not convinced it was related to his dealings with Iran. "At the time he was arrested, Saab Moran truly was no diplomat at all," the court ruled. U.S. prosecutors accuse Saab Moran of siphoning off some $350 million from Venezuela via the United States in a scheme that involved bribing Venezuelan government officials.

☆ Venezuela opposition vote to remove Guaido's interim government
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Acting as congress chief and interim president following Nicolas Maduro's disputed re-election as president in May 2018, Guaido in 2019 appointed the board of Citgo, a subsidiary of state oil firm PDVSA. While mostly powerless at home where Maduro's government exercises control over nearly all institutions, including security forces, Guaido's interim government has supervised the foreign assets and runs many embassies. If approved next week, opposition lawmakers will then choose five representatives for the board of directors that will head assets held abroad, and Guaido's interim presidency, along with his government, will be removed. Guaido has been the face of Venezuela's opposition abroad since he declared himself interim president in 2019. Talks between the opposition and Maduro's government hosted by Mexico ended earlier this month with no further negotiations scheduled.

☆ Latin America's 'pink tide' may have hit its high-water mark
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Brad Haynes | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Alessandro Cinque/File PhotoDec 22 (Reuters) - Dramatic elections in Brazil, Chile and Colombia brought leftist governments into power across much of Latin America in 2022, capping the region's second "pink tide" in two decades. Chilean President Gabriel Boric, 36, took office in March as his country's most progressive leader in half a century and its youngest ever. Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 77, who narrowly beat incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in October, is a holdover from the region's first pink tide, when a commodity boom helped him finish his 2003-2010 presidency with record approval. WHAT IT MEANS FOR 2023The region's new pink tide has a distinct green tint, as progressive movements have embraced the fight against climate change. Castillo, ousted about a year and a half after his election, may not be the only leftist leader to face difficult times.

CARACAS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition parties are seeking to remove Juan Guaido as head of Citgo, the country's most important asset abroad, and block his interim government from extending its mandate by another year, spokespeople from the country's main opposition parties said on Wednesday. But opposition political parties propose instead to replace Guaido with a commission of five parliament-appointed members to govern Citgo's assets, and block the one-year extension. Parties looking to replace Guaido have proposed delegating the functions of the interim government to the new commission. Three of Venezuela's largest opposition parties support the motion, Marquina said, while the fourth - which Guaido belongs to - supports the interim government. Guaido's failure to extend his leadership may spell trouble for the boards controlling those assets, whose legitimacy rests on the recognition of Guaido as Venezuela's interim leader.

☆ Russia discusses debt, energy stability with Venezuela
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

CARACAS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak met on Wednesday with Venezuela's oil minister in Caracas, where they discussed oil market volatility and the status of Venezuela's outstanding debts to Russia. "Oil- and gas-producing countries are the solid keystone of our trade and financial cooperation, which continues showing its resilience despite sanctions and pressure on Russia and Venezuela," Novak said. Moscow is negotiating a debt restructuring deal with Venezuela, Russian agency Interfax said on Wednesday, citing an official from Russia's finance ministry. The two countries signed a total of 11 agreements covering everything from medicine supply to oil well services, Venezuela's oil ministry said in a statement. Europe introduced an embargo on purchases of seaborne Russian oil starting this month, trying to cripple Moscow's military efforts in Ukraine.

☆ Biden chose humanity over geopolitics with Griner release
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But President Joe Biden’s decision to exchange WNBA star Brittney Griner for Viktor Bout goes beyond the exchange’s bottom line. And it prompted top Republicans to charge that he had prioritized a basketball superstar over an ex-marine who benefited from a vocal political pressure campaign on Biden. This adds another layer of complication for Biden as he seeks to get Whelan free, since it involves another government and would require German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to potentially agree to supersede his country’s own legal system. While Biden is being castigated by some political opponents in Washington for doing a bad deal, administration officials insisted that he got the best one on offer. It was a choice between bringing home one particular American, Brittney Griner, or bringing home none,” a senior administration official told reporters on Thursday.

☆ Putin has a plan to flee to South America if he loses the war in Ukraine, former aide says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Kremlin started coming up with an evacuation plan for Putin in the spring, a former aide said. Putin first considered a plan to evacuate to China — but later rejected the idea, Gallyamov said. "The leader's entourage does not exclude that he will lose the war, lose power and he will have to urgently evacuate somewhere," he added. Sechin, who is Putin's right-hand man, has been put in charge of the evacuation plan, Gallyamov said. He has regularly commented on the state of the war in Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion on February 24.

☆ Venezuelan officials, Chevron execs hold closed-door meetings
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The first meeting with workers was planned to be held at joint venture Petropiar in the Orinoco Belt oil region. But after last-minute changes to the agenda, executives and officials opted for a closed-door encounter. The second of those private meetings is planned for Thursday at the site of the Petroboscan joint venture in western Venezuela, two of the sources added. A Chevron spokesperson declined to comment, citing a policy of not commenting on commercial matters. It was unclear whether new general managers at some joint ventures were appointed, as planned.

☆ Former Rep. David Rivera of Florida is arrested in Venezuela probe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

David Rivera, a Republican who served from 2011 to 2013, was arrested at Atlanta’s airport, said Marlene Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami. To justify the large payments, PDV USA allegedly created “phony contracts” backdated to March 20, 2017 — the day before the consulting agreement took effect. Rivera’s consulting contract had all the hallmarks of a sham, according to PDV USA, which since 2019 has been run by directors appointed by the U.S.-backed opposition. Rivera never met in person with anyone from Citgo or PDV USA while supposedly working on its behalf. “The written record is bereft of any evidence that Interamerican performed any of the contracted services,” PDV USA argues in the new filings.

☆ Ex-U.S. lawmaker arrested for conspiring to act as agent of Venezuela
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Former U.S. lawmaker David Rivera was arrested on Monday on charges of conspiring to launder money and to illegally act as an agent of the Venezuelan government, according to a U.S. official and an indictment. Rivera and associate Esther Nuhfer sought to improve bilateral ties and prevent further U.S. economic sanctions against Venezuela, without disclosing this as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act, according to the indictment. "On November 16, 2022, Rivera was indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida." In 2020, a PDVSA unit under opposition control sued Interamerican Consulting, stating it received $15 million from PDVSA but performed no meaningful services. Interamerican paid millions of dollars to a company managing yachts for a Venezuelan businessman, according to records that emerged from that lawsuit.

☆ Venezuela opposition demand date to resume dialogue with Maduro in Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CARACAS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition asked President Nicolas Maduro's government to set a date to resume political talks in Mexico that could alleviate the county's long-running political and economic crises. Government and opposition delegates met in Mexico City on Nov. 26 after more than a year of hiatus, and signed a "social agreement", but did not announce a date to meet again. The opposition later said they would meet with the ruling party in December. The head of the opposition delegation, Gerardo Blyde, said this week that talks would enter a challenging phase including political issues and human rights. "We demand that Nicolas Maduro not continue delaying the commitment assumed in Mexico and proceed immediately to set the date, within the month of December, to continue the negotiation with the political and freedom agenda as agreed," the opposition said.

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