Thread by @venanalysis

(Thread) The Bondholders & the Buffoon

The US will ride this spectacular trainwreck of nonsense known as the @jguaido pretend presidency into the sunset. Though Biden has allegedly put an expiration date on this circus, US officials will try and stave off the inevitable disaster

The latest development has been yet another extension of a Treasury license banning any transactions with the PDVSA 2020 bond until January 2022. There have been similar ones banning corporations from seizing Vzlan assets without special permission

sputniknews.com/20210910/us-tr…

This is a story w/ equal parts sanctions and opposition tomfoolery. Why are these Treasury licenses relevant? In a word: Citgo (Vzlan US-based oil subsidiary). The PDVSA 2020 bond has defaulted and Citgo shares were pledged as collateral. So bondholders want to seize Citgo shares

Other vultures circling are transnational corporations that won international arbitration awards for asset nationalizations (nothing fairer than intl corporate justice): Crystallex, ConocoPhillips, Owens-Illinois. They want Citgo shred to pieces and auctioned in order to collect

So while the US empire functions as an attack dog for corporate interests, in this case they are actually going against corporate interests in order to protect their regime-change project in Venezuela. The old proverbial contradictions...

These licenses (and others like sanctions-exemptions for Chevron) are a testament to the embarrassing failure that the Guaidó coup has been. Simply put, DC hacks expected that by appointing a pretend president the Maduro govt and/or the armed forces would surrender swiftly

Where do sanctions come in? As the US economic aggression ramped up, the Vzlan govt prioritized debt service and the 2020 bond especially. It hoped good behavior would be recognized by intl markets, didn't quite work out. At some point there was just no way to continue paying

Settlements with claimants were derailed by sanctions. Attempts to renegotiate with creditors were likewise scuppered by White House threats. And in this very tough scenario, in stepped the buffoonish US-backed opposition led by buffoon-in-chief @jguaido to make things worse

Remarkably and outrageously, the Trump admin froze Venezuelan US-based assets and handed them over to this make-believe "interim govt." Chief among them was $7B-worth Citgo. Leading these efforts was José Ignacio Hernández, who actually worked for corporations that sued Venezuela

The opposition thought it was being clever by making a $71M payment on the PDVSA 2020 bond in mid-2019, only to realize months later it couldn't meet a much heftier payment and declare the bond was "void." Between that and Citgo posting record losses, the picture was bleak

So in stepped the Treasury Department to save Guaidó from the embarrassment of losing the main asset that fell into his lap due to gross incompetence. Washington in a way is asking corporations to take a deep breath because w/ a puppet govt there'll be money for everyone

The Venezuelan government has set sanctions relief and the return of stolen assets as priorities in the ongoing talks with the US-backed opposition. However, it has also pledged to honor its foreign debts. So it's hard to see Citgo surviving after all is said and done

Even Reuters knows what's up: "Citgo is now controlled by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido [...] and a seizure of the firm by creditors could damage his political prospects" So it's just about Guaidó looking like less of a moron than he actually is
reuters.com/business/energ…

As expected, Reuters then goes for the dishonesty world record in this paragraph. Washington can just "label" Maduro because that's like the gospel for corporate media. Then (gasp!) Maduro retains power and controls PDVSA. It's like he was elected president and runs a govt (cont)

Finally the unmissable "Maduro says" trick
- Maduro says sanctions are criminal: well, they are. The US sanctioning a Russian company for buying Vzlan crude, in what world is that legal?
- Maduro says the opposition stole Citgo. The US literally seized it and gave it to them

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