Venezuela Arrests Top Citgo Executives

Screw them. If I were the CEO of Citgo, I'd pull out and tell the shitheads "You want oil? Suck it out of the ground with a sippy straw".
 
Five US citizens being held...
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Execs to be tried as ‘traitors’: Maduro
Fri, Nov 24, 2017 - DIPLOMATIC? The Venezuelan president mocked a demand by the US embassy for the five US citizens to be released, saying that they should ‘go to the worst prison’
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday said Venezuelan-US executives at refiner Citgo who were arrested in a corruption sweep this week would be tried as “corrupt, thieving traitors,” despite a request by the US to free them. Five of six executives of US-based refiner Citgo who were arrested in Caracas are US citizens, a source familiar with the matter said, possibly complicating Venezuela’s corruption sweep of the oil industry. The six executives included acting Citgo president Jose Pereira, who has Venezuelan citizenship and US permanent residency, the source said. Citgo did not respond to requests for comment.

Late on Wednesday, Maduro tapped Asdrubal Chavez, a former oil minister and cousin of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, to replace Pereira. Military intelligence agents detained the Texas-based executives during an event at state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela’s headquarters in Caracas on Tuesday, two sources told reporters. Citgo is a Venezuelan-owned refiner and marketer of oil and petrochemical products. The US embassy had requested that its nationals be freed, Maduro said. He mocked the demand and vowed that the men, who are also Venezuelan, would pay for alleged wrongdoing in a financial deal. “These are people born in Venezuela, they’re Venezuelan and they’re going to be judged for being corrupt, thieving traitors,” Maduro said in a televised broadcast, during which he also sang and danced salsa. “They’re properly behind bars, and they should go to the worst prison in Venezuela.”

Relations between Caracas and Washington have long been tense. They have further soured under US President Donald Trump since his administration imposed sanctions on Venezuelan officials, including Maduro, and economic sanctions that have impeded the OPEC nation’s access to international banks. Venezuela has defaulted on sovereign debt and bonds issued by the state-run oil firm after failing to make timely payments, a New York-based derivatives group ruled on Thursday last week. Late on Wednesday, a US Department of State official said: “We have seen media reports of the arrest of US citizens in Venezuela. Venezuela is required under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to provide consular notification to the US upon request of a detained US citizen, and to provide consular access.” “When a US citizen is arrested overseas, we immediately request permission to visit him or her. We have no additional information to offer at this time,” the official added.

Venezuelan Prosecutor General Tarek Saab has declared a “crusade” against “organized crime” in Venezuela’s oil industry. Saab on Tuesday told a news conference that his office had uncovered an about US$4 billion planned deal with foreign companies, offering the refiner as guarantee in a detrimental deal for Venezuela. According to Saab, the deal was with US investment fund Apollo Global Management and Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Frontier Management Group, and also included a Swiss-based intermediary, Mangore Sarl. He added that there was a “presumed” link between Mangore Sarl and the Citgo executives. Opposition leaders have attributed the arrests to infighting among government factions and the cash-strapped government’s desire to gain control of moneymaking companies, rather than a genuine desire to root out corruption.

Execs to be tried as ‘traitors’: Maduro - Taipei Times
 
Following King Salman's example to purge corruption...

Venezuela seizes former oil bosses in graft purge -sources
November 30, 2017 - Venezuelan authorities have detained two once-powerful officials who had both run the oil ministry and state oil company PDVSA as a part of a deepening anti-corruption purge, three people familiar with the situation said on Thursday.
It was not immediately clear why Eulogio Del Pino and Nelson Martinez, who have held both posts at different times recently, were in custody. One source in PDVSA said it appeared they were taken for questioning, while another company official said they were “implicated” in the graft investigation. Their detention is the biggest development to date in a months-old probe at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries member. Venezuela’s Information Ministry, PDVSA, and the Oil Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

State prosecutor Tarek Saab was due to hold a news conference to announce new arrests later on Thursday. Sources within the industry say President Nicolas Maduro is using the graft purge to sideline political rivals and consolidate his grip on a sector that brings in more than 90 percent of the cash-strapped country’s export income.

The two men, both widely seen as capable executives, had been removed from their posts on Sunday and replaced by a major general, giving the already powerful military further clout, albeit in a sector reeling from under-investment and sliding output.

Attention is also on Rafael Ramirez, who was Venezuela’s oil czar for a decade and under whom both Del Pino and Martinez ascended. Maduro fired him from his job as representative to the United Nations on Tuesday, according to sources with knowledge of the information, and summoned him back to Caracas.

Venezuela seizes former oil bosses in graft purge -sources
 
Four Venezuelan officials sanctioned by U.S. Treasury Dept. over corruption claims...
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U.S. Treasury sanctions four Venezuelan officials over corruption claims
Jan. 5, 2018 -- The U.S. Treasury Department issued sanctions Friday against four Venezuelan government officials accused of having associations with corruption and repression.
"President Maduro and his inner circle continue to put their own interests above those of the Venezuelan people," Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in the announcement. "This action underscores the United States' resolve to hold Maduro and others engaged in corruption in Venezuela accountable. We call on concerned parties and international partners around the world to join us as we stand with the Venezuelan people to further isolate this oppressive regime."

Executive Order 13692 targeted Rodolfo Clemente Marco Torres, Francisco Jose Rangel Gomez, Fabio Enrique Zavarse Pabon and Gerardo Jose Izquierdo Torres. The sanctions will freeze all assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction of the four military and government officials and prohibits U.S. persons from dealing with them.

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Four Venezuelan military officials were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department over allegations of corruption and repression.​

Torres has been linked to corruption schemes related to food imports, which are controlled by the Venezuelan government, while Gomez is linked to a network of corrupt military officials. Pabon is allegedly responsible for acts of repression by members of the Bolivarian National Guard against street protesters in the country and Torres has allegedly used his military positions to profit from corruption.

According to the treasury report, the four officials "have forsaken the professional republican mission" found in Venezuela's 1999 Constitution which states that military officials should work "with no political orientation ... and in no case at the service of any person or political partisanship." The designations against the military officials illustrate the "corruption and repression" that has continued to grow under the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

U.S. Treasury sanctions four Venezuelan officials over corruption claims
 
Send in a team to rescue the hostages; and then bomb the refineries...
 
Chavez’s former spy chief arrested by Venezuelan police...
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Venezuelan police arrest Chavez’s former spy chief
Thu, Mar 15, 2018 - ARBITER OF DISPUTES: Miguel Rodriguez Torres has been detained for allegedly plotting to undermine the military chain of command and disturb the peace
Police on Tuesday arrested late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s powerful former spy chief on accusations of sowing unrest as he leads a movement of disgruntled leftists seeking to replace Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Miguel Rodriguez Torres was speaking at an event organized by women activists from his political movement in a Caracas hotel when he calmly stopped his speech and left the podium, saying he had “received a notification that requires me to urgently leave.” Moments later, he was escorted into the back of a police vehicle and driven away by what witnesses said were heavily armed agents from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) — the same force he created in 2010 while serving as Chavez’s trusted adviser. Indira Urbaneja, an aide who was also detained at the event, said the two were taken to SEBIN headquarters before she was released and Rodriguez Torres was taken to another unknown location.

In a statement read on state television, the government said that Rodriguez Torres was being sought by the judiciary for plotting to undermine the military’s chain of command and disturb the peace. “The criminal actions planned by this gentleman and his accomplices include armed actions and conspiring against our constitution,” said the statement, which demanded Rodriguez Torres’ “treason” be met with “severity.” Rodriguez Torres is a former army major general who served alongside Chavez in a failed 1992 coup. For more than a year, he has been quietly building a movement to challenge Maduro in presidential elections, but earlier this year was barred from holding office for 12 months on what supporters call trumped-up charges of not presenting a sworn affidavit declaring his assets and income. In his speech on Tuesday, he called for electoral authorities to uphold Venezuela’s constitution and provide guarantees that the upcoming presidential election would be free and fair.

Several prominent opponents of Maduro’s socialist administration have been barred from competing in the May vote, while several others have been exiled or jailed. “Once those conditions are reached, we should select one candidate to begin that electoral process to begin transforming the reality we are living today,” Rodriguez Torres told the gathering. With deep ties to the military, traditionally the arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela, Rodriguez Torres has managed to distinguish himself from other former government loyalists on the left even while, until now, evading arrest or prosecution like many of Maduro’s conservative opponents.

In an interview last year, Rodriguez Torres accused Maduro of destroying Venezuela’s oil-rich economy, failing to rein in violence by pro-government militias and silencing critics. He said if given the chance to lead, he would eliminate foreign currency controls put in place in 2003 and seek financial assistance from the IMF, which Chavez railed against. Despite attempts to present himself as a kinder, gentler Chavista, many in the conservative opposition accuse Rodriguez Torres of violating human rights by arresting dozens of protesters as Venezuelan minister of the interior during a wave of unrest in opposition to the government in 2014. The statement from Maduro’s government announcing Rodriguez Torres’ arrest repeated claims that he had been fired as minister for allegedly having ties to US intelligence agencies.

Venezuelan police arrest Chavez’s former spy chief - Taipei Times
 
Chavez’s former spy chief arrested by Venezuelan police...
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Venezuelan police arrest Chavez’s former spy chief
Thu, Mar 15, 2018 - ARBITER OF DISPUTES: Miguel Rodriguez Torres has been detained for allegedly plotting to undermine the military chain of command and disturb the peace
Police on Tuesday arrested late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s powerful former spy chief on accusations of sowing unrest as he leads a movement of disgruntled leftists seeking to replace Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Miguel Rodriguez Torres was speaking at an event organized by women activists from his political movement in a Caracas hotel when he calmly stopped his speech and left the podium, saying he had “received a notification that requires me to urgently leave.” Moments later, he was escorted into the back of a police vehicle and driven away by what witnesses said were heavily armed agents from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) — the same force he created in 2010 while serving as Chavez’s trusted adviser. Indira Urbaneja, an aide who was also detained at the event, said the two were taken to SEBIN headquarters before she was released and Rodriguez Torres was taken to another unknown location.

In a statement read on state television, the government said that Rodriguez Torres was being sought by the judiciary for plotting to undermine the military’s chain of command and disturb the peace. “The criminal actions planned by this gentleman and his accomplices include armed actions and conspiring against our constitution,” said the statement, which demanded Rodriguez Torres’ “treason” be met with “severity.” Rodriguez Torres is a former army major general who served alongside Chavez in a failed 1992 coup. For more than a year, he has been quietly building a movement to challenge Maduro in presidential elections, but earlier this year was barred from holding office for 12 months on what supporters call trumped-up charges of not presenting a sworn affidavit declaring his assets and income. In his speech on Tuesday, he called for electoral authorities to uphold Venezuela’s constitution and provide guarantees that the upcoming presidential election would be free and fair.

Several prominent opponents of Maduro’s socialist administration have been barred from competing in the May vote, while several others have been exiled or jailed. “Once those conditions are reached, we should select one candidate to begin that electoral process to begin transforming the reality we are living today,” Rodriguez Torres told the gathering. With deep ties to the military, traditionally the arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela, Rodriguez Torres has managed to distinguish himself from other former government loyalists on the left even while, until now, evading arrest or prosecution like many of Maduro’s conservative opponents.

In an interview last year, Rodriguez Torres accused Maduro of destroying Venezuela’s oil-rich economy, failing to rein in violence by pro-government militias and silencing critics. He said if given the chance to lead, he would eliminate foreign currency controls put in place in 2003 and seek financial assistance from the IMF, which Chavez railed against. Despite attempts to present himself as a kinder, gentler Chavista, many in the conservative opposition accuse Rodriguez Torres of violating human rights by arresting dozens of protesters as Venezuelan minister of the interior during a wave of unrest in opposition to the government in 2014. The statement from Maduro’s government announcing Rodriguez Torres’ arrest repeated claims that he had been fired as minister for allegedly having ties to US intelligence agencies.

Venezuelan police arrest Chavez’s former spy chief - Taipei Times
Here´s more:
Venezuela: Ex-Spymaster Detained for Alleged “Conspiracy”
 

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