Thread by @venanalysis

🧵🧵More trouble for CITGO thanks to the treacherous incompetence of the former "interim government" led by legendary buffoon @jguaido. We'll have a report on this tomorrow but here's a quick thread in the meantime

In a nutshell, 4 more corporations have joined a Delaware court-ordered auction of CITGO shares to collect on a combined $1.6 billion worth of arbitration awards ($2.5B + accrued interests). This @Reuters piece has some details (+ traditional dishonesty): reut.rs/3TQFmml

To make a long story short, corporate-friendly arbitration courts ruled in favor of several companies in disputes w/ Venezuela (over nationalizations). And then a corporate-friendly judge ruled that they could seize CITGO shares as compensation to collect on those debts

Four companies (Rusoro Mining, Huntington, O-I and ACL Investments) join this process to break and seize CITGO shares that already includes Crystallex ($1B outstanding) and ConocoPhillips ($1.6B outstanding)

Where does Guaidó come in? In a myriad of ways. To collect on an award against Vzla via a state company like CITGO, awardees need to prove that PDVSA (CITGO’s parent company) is an “alter ego.” The interim govt left the judge no doubt about it

Recall that the US puppet and his acolytes were granted control of CITGO b/c of the absurd decision to “recognize” this self-proclaimed circus. And owed to a lack of competence or honesty, the Guaidó gang was not able to shield CITGO from these claims

But it wasn’t just the running of CITGO. The handling of legal cases was also suspicious, from not showing up in court to shady under the table deals. Or in the case of Rusoro Mining, “quietly dropping” an appeal when it was highly recommended to at least drag proceedings on

Apart from the corporate threats, CITGO also faces a looming threat from holders of the PDVSA 2020 bond (CITGO was pledged as collateral). A ban on trades involving the bond expires in April. This report has more venezuelanalysis.com/news/15687

Worth recalling that the process was driven by Crystallex and it’s 100% due to sanctions. After several rounds in court to reduce the award, Venezuela actually reached a settlement w/ Crystallex. But sanctions made it impossible to continue paying the installments #SanctionsKill

We don’t agree on everything, but this thread by Francisco Rodríguez has some useful insights

https://twitter.com/frrodriguezc/status/1640421897321193472

We can’t leave without pointing out some egregiously poor reporting that we’ve come to expect from @Reuters. Notice this outrageous paragraph. First off, a blatant and ever more common lie. Sanctions against PDVSA actually began in 2017. But that’s not the worst part…

(see highlight above) It seems Maduro himself rigged the elections! He must have voted 5 million times with fake IDs, or hacked 5,000 voting centers and stuffed the ballot boxes. What a busy Sunday that must have been. Btw all these things are impossible to do in Vzlan elections

And then the “Maduro says” trick. Maduro hasn’t “denied” anything, there are electoral authorities here. The point is that there has never been any evidence whatsoever to back these rigging claims. Not that the corporate media would ever ask for it anyway

As for the US wanting Venezuela’s oil, don’t take our (or Maduro’s) word for it. Here’s SouthCom chief Laura Richardson talking about it

https://twitter.com/ThinkingOnce/status/1618936691187945474

Finally, it never ceases to amaze how José Ignacio Hernández gets quoted like an impartial source. Not only did he have an active role in the Guaidó make-believe administration, he was a star witness in Crystallex’s legal case to get the greenlight to seize CITGO shares

Right on cue, we have recently published an infographic on CITGO and the corporate vultures currently circling
venezuelanalysis.com/images/15726

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