#News | A US judge ruled Friday that four companies had the right to seize shares of CITGO, the US-based subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), after they convinced the court that it was the "alter ego" of the so-called “interim government” of Venezuela.

CITGO, considered Venezuela’s most prized foreign asset, is on the brink of being broken up and seized by creditors pending changes to the sanctions regime imposed by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The potential seizure of shares stem from awards worth billions against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in international arbitration courts.

O-I Glass, Huntington Ingalls Industries, ACL1 Investments and Rusoro Mining will now peg claims totaling US $1.6 billion plus accrued interest to a court-mandated auction of shares belonging to PDV Holding, CITGO’s parent company.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15732

#News | Venezuelan authorities continue to push on with a wide-reaching anti-corruption probe centered on the oil industry.

On Tuesday evening, 23 detainees were arraigned before a judge and two public prosecutors. The arrival of the prisoners in orange jumpsuits was broadcast on state television networks.

The swift hearing saw them all subjected to pre-trial detention. The group includes nine public officials, ten businessmen and National Assembly Deputy Hugbel Roa, who had his parliamentary immunity removed by the legislative body.

The charges include misappropriation of public funds, influence peddling and money laundering. Saab added that those who worked at state oil company PDVSA might additionally be charged with treason. The group likewise included three judges, who were charged with corruption, but no connections between the two cases have been established.

The alleged corruption plot has been labeled PDVSA/Crypto by Attorney General Tarek William Saab, in reference to the accusation that US $3 billion worth of crude sales were diverted via cryptocurrency schemes.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15734

#Opinion | "If the Free Cover people seem determined to persuade us that their friends have a good time because they are winners, it is no less true that the officialists seem comfortable naturalizing the fact that only a privileged few can have access to stages and high-end events.

If, for the reasons mentioned above, Free Cover fails to recreate the joy of Venezuelans, in the case of the ruling party, the attempt fails to recreate the popular rebelliousness that was associated with Chávez. And this is so because, as happens with Free Cover, the ruling party is incapable of recognizing itself in a real country that can both sing Billo’s and celebrate the life of Hugo Chávez. A country that, in spite of its existence being denied by both sides, continues to exist and will not cease to remake itself while singing and fighting."

In his latest VA column, Reinaldo Iturriza explores the intersection of cultural trends with politics.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/politics-commons/15733

#News | The Colombian government has proposed to host an international meeting to unblock the negotiations between the Venezuelan government and the US-backed opposition.

“President Gustavo Petro will call for an international conference in Bogotá to promote dialogue between representatives of civil society, the opposition and the Venezuelan government,” read a statement published on March 28.

The Colombian government added that the purpose of the summit “is to reopen and build a road map to stimulate and support the dialogue process” in Venezuela and that President Petro “will seek direct conversation with the Venezuelan opposition at the meeting.”

Representatives from the United States, Europe and Latin America were invited to participate in the Bogotá-held forum, although the date has yet to be announced.

The Venezuelan government has not commented on the proposed Venezuela-centered forum nor confirmed if President Maduro or a delegation will take part.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15735

Ladies and gentlemen, we have been found out. We are part of an “international swarm” at the service of “Chavista narratives”! The bombshell revelations came from right-wing US-funded outlet Efecto Cocuyo. Join us for this fun ride of mediocre journalism and paranoia!

Read the thread: https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1642737716772192257

#News | The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council adopted a resolution condemning the use of unilateral coercive measures as means to exert political and economic pressure, particularly on least developed and developing countries.

The resolution was presented by Azerbaijan on behalf of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries during the body’s 52nd session in Geneva and contains 35 points that criticize the use of unilateral coercive measures, also known as sanctions, and their negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights.

The text of the resolution explicitly calls on all States to “stop adopting, maintaining, implementing or complying with unilateral coercive measures not in accordance with international law, international humanitarian law, [and] the Charter of the United Nations.”

The document further calls for “removal” of unilateral coercive measures and condemns their application and enforcement as “tools of pressure” by “certain powers” as means of limiting the sovereignty of states to determine their political, economic and social systems, particularly against least developed and developing countries.

The language reflects the increased use of sanctions by the United States and its allies as means of coercion against states that do not align with Washington’s interests.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15736

#Opinion | In my previous column, I expressed some serious concerns about the construction of a 70-million-dollar baseball stadium in Caracas. Was it the right thing to do amidst so many problems? Was it appropriate to prioritize sports over issues such as education or healthcare?

As it turned out, a mere couple of weeks later, government revelations dwarfed my dilemma: a mafia operating in the state oil company (PDVSA) and the Crypto Assets Superintendency (SUNACRIP) allegedly siphoned off some $3 billion from the oil industry. Around 40 stadiums, give or take…

Furthermore, a few media outlets ventured that the plundering of PDVSA can be even more serious after a series of intermediaries were simply allowed to take crude cargoes without paying. That’s why the new PDVSA president and oil minister, Pedro Tellechea, decided to suspend contracts and begin demanding payment upfront.

As a result of the ongoing anti-corruption probe, there are currently 10 public officials and 11 businessmen behind bars. But I think there are a lot of things to unpack. In my view, they show that in political terms, Venezuela is completely adrift.

Read the latest column by Jessica Dos Santos:

https://venezuelanalysis.com/tales-resistance/15737

#Opinion | On Sunday, opposition politician Juan Guaidó posted a video on social media claiming the Venezuelan government was moments away from issuing an arrest order against him, inadvertently expressing the hopes of the majority to see him behind bars once and for all.

Reactions to the video were of the hilarious variety, with one user saying he wouldn’t be able to sleep that night while another one wrote: “usurping [government] functions, allying with foreign powers and stealing the nation’s assets is a crime. I'm telling you in case your lawyers haven't.”

Comments came from both opposition and Chavista followers who coincide on one thing (and this does not happen often!): Guaidó and acolytes have been greatly responsible for the Venezuelan people’s suffering by endorsing Washington’s economic warfare, which has enabled the mass killing of the population.

But being supposedly unaware of one’s crimes while openly confessing to them, especially when you are a US puppet or warmongering imperialist, seems common these days. Just recently, US Senator Marco Rubio gave an interview with fake news propagandist Fox News. There he expressed concern about the US dollar losing its position as the world’s dominant currency after China and Brazil struck a deal to trade in their own currencies.

Rubio’s concerns were centered on one specific thing as he eloquently explained it: “We won’t have to talk about sanctions in five years, because there’ll be so many countries transacting in currencies other than the dollar that we won’t have the ability to sanction them.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15738

#Interview | "At the end of the day, the mestizaje discourse is discriminatory, but it’s alive and well. Twenty-three years after the beginning of the Bolivarian Process, if you turn on Telesur or Venezolana de Televisión [state-run TV outlets], how many black anchors will you see? How many people are invited to talk about Afro culture on those platforms? How many ministers or deputies are Afro-descendants?

Unfortunately, racism hasn’t vanished, but it comes draped in the discourse of mestizaje. Many deny the racist character of our society: they say that we are all a bit indigenous, a bit Afro, a bit white; that we are not like South Africa or the United States. However, what we find in our society is far more than vestiges of racism. The struggle to overcome structural racism within the state is ongoing, and it is led by social movements and a network of Afro-Venezuelan organizations."

Jesús “Chucho” García is an intellectual and activist, founder of the Network of Afro-Venezuelan Organizations and a member of the National Decolonization Commission. In this interview, García talks about Afro-descendants’ history of struggle, the advances in the Bolivarian Process, and the pending task of building a truly inclusive society.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15739

#News | The International Court of Justice (ICJ) dismissed Venezuela’s preliminary objections in a case brought forward by Guyana concerning the sovereignty over the Essequibo Strip.

The two-neighboring South American countries have an unresolved border dispute going back to colonial times. In 2018, Guyana asked the Hague-based court to confirm the validity of a border drawn by an 1899 Paris tribunal.

On Thursday, ICJ Chief Justice Joan Donoghue announced that, by a majority of 14 to 1, the court had decided to dismiss Venezuela’s objection that the United Kingdom, as ruler of what was British Guiana in 1899, should also take part in the case.

The court had previously ruled against Caracas in determining that it has jurisdiction to hear arguments on the dispute. Venezuela will now have to present its “Counter-Memorial” to back its position. A hearing schedule is not presently known.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15740

🇻🇪🎙️ In this podcast episode, we discuss the recent corruption revelations, what they mean for the Bolivarian Process and whether the US-backed opposition will finally pay for its crimes.

Subscribe now for early access to the episode!

→ https://www.patreon.com/posts/81267670

21 years ago, the US-backed Venezuelan elites launched a coup and temporarily ousted President Hugo Chávez. Sadly for them, the Venezuelan people had other plans. This infographic recaps the key moments

https://venezuelanalysis.com/images/15500

"On April 10, a day before the coup, U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro spoke to the press after meeting the Mayor of Caracas and when asked if the U.S. supported President Chavez, his reply was: “We support democracy and the constitutional framework” and he advised U.S. citizens in Venezuela to “be careful”. The Caracas Mayor, by his side, said: “If he doesn’t rule like a democrat, Chavez will leave office sooner than later.”

What came after was a wave of violence and repression that led to the arrest of Chavez, the killing of 19 people and injuring of over hundred, and a business leader swearing himself in as President, followed by a visit from Ambassador Shapiro. All according to regular Monroe Doctrine protocol, thus far.

Yet the one factor not taken into consideration: the will of the Venezuelan people."

In this article, CODEPINK's Michelle Ellner looks back at the 2002 coup and the need to bury the Monroe Doctrine in Latin America.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15741

#News | Venezuela and Russia are set to launch a new shipping route, deepening trade ties between the two countries, the head of the Russian-Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce told Sputnik.

Russian-Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce President Roman Frolenko added that trade between Russia and Venezuela was projected to rise to US$300 million a month.

"We calculated that trade could be somewhere in the range of $300 million per month, this is without oil," Frolenko told Sputnik.

As part of its efforts to diversify its economy, Venezuela is expected to increase its export of goods not related to the hydrocarbon industry, traditionally the most important source of foreign currency. Coffee, fruit and meats are some of the industries that Caracas has looked to boost in international markets.

Venezuela is also seeking to expand its technological ties with Russia and China after being invited to take part in their joint International Lunar Research Station project. Marglad Bencomo, executive director of the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities (ABAE), recently visited China’s Deep Space Exploration Laboratory at Nanjing University. Venezuela is expected to soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the China National Space Administration (CNSA) in order to formalize the partnership.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15742

🇻🇪🎙️ Venezuelanalysis members and economist Tony Boza discuss the latest corruption revelations and a proposal to tackle inflation.

Our latest podcast episode is available now!

Listen here: http://venezuelanalysis.com/audio/15743

🥁🥁🥁 We're extremely pleased to announce that Clodovaldo Hernández (@clodoher) will be joining us as a columnist. A sharp political commentator, Hernández will help us navigate the always complex Venezuelan reality.

Stay tuned for his first delivery this Friday!

#News | Despite oil production struggles, the country’s crude exports have rebounded following a four-month low, shipping a total of 774,420 bpd of crude and fuel in March, surpassing the previous month’s 555,000 bpd. The figure is also the highest average registered since August 2022, according to Reuters.

The recovery reflects the partial resumption of loadings with eight crude carriers setting sail from Venezuelan ports. Shippers had been waiting for authorization since early January when PDVSA president and recently appointed Oil Minister Pedro Rafael Tellechea ordered an exports freeze to review contracts following allegations of missed payments from intermediaries. With US sanctions driving away established trade partners, Caracas turned to dozens of unreliable little-known companies to allocate its crude.

Last month, Venezuelan authorities launched an operation against a corruption plot that reportedly saw US $3 billion in crude sales diverted via cryptocurrency schemes since 2020. More than 30 people have been arrested so far.

PDVSA has now implemented a new system of fewer contracts and upfront payments while the cryptocurrency mechanisms to collect crude sales seem to be on hold.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15744

#Opinion | If we follow along with most interpretations of the anti-corruption campaign undertaken by the Venezuelan government over the last few weeks, we would have to conclude that within Chavismo, the political conglomerate that sustains the Venezuelan revolution, there is a war of extermination between factions going on.

This perception has solid foundations, since the officials prosecuted and imprisoned early on belong to what can be identified as an internal current, the one led by the now-former Oil Minister of Petroleum.

However, there are other ways of interpreting what is happening. And it could be said that one of them is exactly the opposite of the statement above. "Operation Whoever May Fall" seeks to find -as quickly as possible because time is running out- a new common enemy that will reunite Chavismo.

And the fact is that the US decision to remove self-proclaimed "interim president" Juan Guaidó from the playing field has deprived the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and its allied forces of an easily identifiable adversary, one that would have allowed them to organize a strategy to remain in power with the 2024 presidential elections around the corner.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/unusual-and-extraordinary/15745

#News | Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil welcomed his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Caracas on Tuesday where the pair announced efforts to work on joint projects in oil production, agriculture, medicine, and space exploration.

“We are going to continue working to strengthen relations between the Russian Federation and Venezuela, two strategic partners," said Gil during a press conference. He added that the pair reviewed and renewed bilateral and cooperation agreements between the two countries, stating that to date over 300 such agreements had been signed.

Lavrov, for his part, said that Venezuela was among Russia’s “most reliable partners.”

"Our relations have been put to the test by different types of crises, pressure attempts from abroad and, despite everything, they are developing successfully and will continue to develop regardless of the political situation," said Lavrov.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15746

"Few women – if any – in Venezuela’s “Fifth Republic” (as the Chávez and post-Chávez era is known) left as significant a mark on the country’s history as Tibisay Lucena, who died of cancer on April 12, 2023, at the age of 63. Her main accomplishment was that during the 14 years as president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), she fundamentally reformed the country’s electoral system to make it one of the most fraud-proof systems in the world.

I first met Tibisay in 1997, well before Chávez became president of Venezuela, while she was studying for an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology at the New School for Social Research in New York City. I didn’t get to know her that well at the time, but she was a friend of my Venezuelan girlfriend (who later became my wife). At the New School, she headed up the Latino Student Association and was studying electoral systems. Despite (or because of?) her relatively small stature, she always comported herself with friendliness, dignity, and authority. I stayed in touch with her throughout my time in Venezuela and even while living in Ecuador, mainly as a journalist for Venezuelanalysis."

Read VA founder Greg Wilpert's article honoring one of Venezuela's most important political figures during the Chavismo years.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15747

#Interview | "We are anti-capitalists and for good reason. Capitalism is an exploitative political and economic system that has created the widest inequities in human history, and has brought our planet to the brink of destruction. It’s led to previously unimaginable weapons and wars, which have brought about countless amounts of human suffering. Like everything, however, capitalism does have varied traits. There are some progressive aspects to capitalism. It’s proved to be a more humane production method than African slavery in the Americas. Or to the conquest, which was a product of the feudal logic of economic and political expansion, dominant in Iberia at the time. Some revolutionary governments in the Global South have been able to utilize the capitalist mode of production as a tool in the struggle against US imperialism (a.k.a. unilateralism).

Capitalism, once the strength of European empires, has become its weakness. The tendency for rate of profit to fall has forced industry abroad, creating new poles of power and reducing the strength of U.S. imperialism – the chief opponent of global liberation movements. Utilizing capitalism as a tool to overthrow capitalism has been a promising development over the past fifty years. It’s often overlooked that this was also what Marx envisioned nearly two centuries ago."

Enrique S. Rivera is a historian, journalist, and documentary film producer. Read our interview with him:

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15748