Chevron et al win waiver

(Bloomberg)

Chevron and four oil services companies won U.S. government approval to continue producing oil despite sanctions placed on the crisis-stricken country.

Extension of a waiver from sanctions will maintain Chevron’s joint venture with SOC Petroleos de Venezuela SA for another three months, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said. The waiver, previously due to end on July 27, will last until Oct. 25.

Oilfield service companies Schlumberger Ltd., Halliburton Co., Baker Hughes and Weatherford International Plc were also allowed to continue working for three months.

Venezuela accounted for 1% of Chevron’s global crude production last year but remains strategically important. The company is the only major U.S. producer still operating in the OPEC founder, which has the world’s largest oil reserves. Chevron made the case to the administration that if it were to leave, its assets could be passed to another operator- the state, Russian or PRC interests.

The U.S. refuses to recognize Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela’s president after an election last year. Financial sanctions became its main tool for depriving Maduro of cash and pressuring the military to reject him.

The opposition-led National Assembly issued a decree that guaranteed Chevron’s assets would be protected under a new government led by Juan Guaido.

Oil purchases from Venezuela have become complicated since the U.S. expanded its sanctions regime to include any business done with PDVSA. Other companies, including Spain’s Repsol SA and Italy’s Eni SpA, continue to do business with Venezuela.

Chevron has operated in Venezuela for almost a century, since the discovery of the Boscan field in the 1920s. It has outlasted Exxon Mobil Corp., which left after a series of industry nationalizations during the Chavez presidency.

Venezuela oil output sank precipitously in recent years. Production is currently below 800,000 barrels a day, down from as much as 3.45 million in 1998. Chevron produced about 40,000 barrels a day at its Venezuelan affiliate in 2018.

Catherine Traywick. Tina Davis, Carlos Caminad

Russia

Gasoline Makes Long Trek

   Bloomberg

Bloomberg- Russian oil products exported to sanction-stained Venezuela, afford a reprieve for the OPEC founder as it battles persistent fuel shortages. In June and July.at least 616,000 barrels of gasoline and 500,000 of vacuum gas oil, a feedstock used to produce gasoline, were in cargoes which sailed from the Black Sea port of Taman to Malta, where they were transferred to vessels sailing to Venezuela. More Russian cargoes may be on the vessel Commander, which loaded VGO in Taman in late July, heading for Malta.

Gasoline vessels take 30 days on a long trip from Russia to Venezuelan shores, while supplies from the U.S. arrive in a little over a week. “Russia is probably charging a premium for these cargoes because of sanctions,” said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC. “It’s unusual that Black Sea gasoline is making its way over to this side of the Atlantic.”

Russia froze domestic gasoline prices this year, making fuel exports a more attractive option. From July, the government removed the cap but reached an informal agreement with producers to keep retail and wholesale prices growing in line with inflation, according to Vedomosti.

Russia, one of the largest foreign investors in Venezuela’s upstream segment, is a traditional ally of Venezuela. The Kremlin supports Maduro after relationships with Washington deteriorated. Russia’s largest oil producer, Rosneft Oil PJSC, received crude oil from Venezuelan SOC Petroleos de Venezuela SA under pre-payment supply deals.

Fuel shipments help Venezuela ease its gasoline crisis. Once an exporter of gasoline to the Caribbean and the U.S. East Coast, the country now imports almost all of its fuel amid breakdowns at domestic refineries. Before sanctions imposed by U.S. president Trump, Venezuela imported most of its gasoline from the U.S. and India but recently switched to supplies from Turkey, Latvia, Greece and now Russia.

Tankers Change Names to Ship Oil to Cuba

Bloomberg

Oil tanker Nedas, after being sanctioned in April, made a delivery to Cuba incognito because it turned off its satellite tracking system. It went unaccounted for 42 days, but reports show that it delivered oil to Cuba. After the ghost delivery, it discreetly changed its name to Esperanza. The Nedas/Esperanza delivered 2 million barrels of crude to Cuba this year.

Halting the flow may prove formidable, with over 4,500 crude oil tankers in operation globally, and SOC Petroleos de Venezuela SA also uses oil products vessels, adding to the complexity of the task.

The U.S. continues to curb shipments between the two countries and aims to close loopholes in sanctions,. The goal is to surgically and methodically block funds to the regime.

National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said “The United States will continue to target entities involved in shipping oil between the two countries (Venezuela and Cuba) and aims to further cut off Maduro and his cronies’ access to funds derived from oil sales to Cuba. Those who circumvent sanctions do so at their own risk.”

The Treasury Department sanctioned Cubametales, the state-run Cuban oil and metals importer, because the Havana-based company is importing Venezuelan crude and Cuba, in return, “continues to provide support, including defense, intelligence and security assistance, to the illegitimate regime of former President Nicolas Maduro.”

Cuba imports Venezuelan crude for its refineries and fuel oil to run its power plants and generate electricity. The supply of oil was agreed on a handshake between former presidents Chavez and Castro and later memorialized in contract. Shipments to Cuba peaked at 103,000 barrels a day in 2009 and dwindled over the years, according to PDVSA data. Volumes slumped to 35,177 barrels a day in the first half of 2019, amid lower production and sanctions.

United States

WASHINGTON – The United States told embattled incumbent Nicolas Maduro’s inner circle that he has little time left to leave power to aovid international justice and new US sanctions and trusted that the Lima Group would soon send Chavismo the same message.

“Right now the United States and countries of the Lima Group are offering him a way out in a specified period of time. And if he doesn’t take it, the measures we take will get much, much tougher,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, special assistant to the US president and senior director of the US National Security Council’s Western Hemisphere Affairs division.

“This period starts now… and we have already communicated indirectly with him (Maduro) through those he trusts. It is important that the countries of the Lima Group do the same.”

Claver-Carone said the amount of time set by the United States is “much shorter than until the end of the year,” and that the foreign ministers of the Lima Group “are discussing” the same subject at their meeting in Buenos Aires. The US presidential aide added that the panorama has changed since the presentation of the report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who denounced the political repression, torture and extrajudicial executions in the South American country.

“Bachelet’s report presents a prima facie case for prosecution, particularly for those countries that are states parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The United States is not a signatory, but we are willing to give certain guarantees. The time has therefore come (for Maduro) to accept certain guarantees to leave power or face international justice and US courts,” he said.

When asked later if Maduro’s fate could be determined by a US court, the high official spoke instead of sanctions. “The consequence is, as the president (Trump) said, we haven’t yet been tough enough. The sanctions… continue to increase and will be much harder than they are,” he warned.

Claver-Carone, who directs Latin American policy in the US National Security Council, insisted that what is being offered “is not a negotiation” about the future of Chavismo. “If he accepts, and he’s interested in guarantees that allow him to leave the country, we have said from the first day that negotiating the how, when and where would not be a problem,” he said.

It is over six months since President Trump recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela and Maduro is still in power, though Claver-Carone denied that the US strategy has failed.

“No, just the opposite. From Jan. 23 until today, Juan Guaido has acquired more power than ever. Interim president Guaido has the wide support of his coalition… but we are following the logic of legality. We recognize the National Assembly and respect its decisions, including any decision taken by this democratic National Assembly in acknowledgment of the interim president,” Claver-Carone said.

Pompeo’s peregrination

ECUADOR In the port city of Guayaquil, the economic hub of the country, President Lenin Moreno welcomed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , in a stopover on his tour of four Latin American countries. Their first topic of discussion was the catastrophe in Venezuela.
The US representative called it inconceivable that fair elections could be held under the regime of Nicolas Maduro, as long as the Cubans protect him. The Ecuadorian president said the Venezuelan exodus only showed “the catastrophe, the social apocalypse.”

Moreno referred to the vast influx of Venezuelans and the need for international aid. “I’ll never refer to Mr. Maduro as the president because he isn’t, he’s someone who stopped being it. The president of Venezuela, and we have acknowledged it, is Mr. Juan Guaido.” , Maduro “uses his power as an authoritarian and a dictator, but at some time he’ll have to leave, and the Venezuelan people themselves will take care of that.”

On the agenda are funding and technical assistance for a comprehensive plan to protect human rights in the context of the flood of migrants from Venezuela.
The Ecuadorian team included the Presidency’s private secretary Juan Sebastian Roldan, Foreign Minister Jose Valencia, Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo, and Economy and Finance Minister Richard Martinez, among others.

The US ambassador to Ecuador, Michael J. Fitzpatrick; assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Kimberly Breier; and senior advisor to the secretary of state, Michael McKinley attended.

Also on the state visit , Pompeo and Moreno discussed matters related to US cooperation in the fight against corruption, the extradition process, mutual legal assistance, increase in trade , attracting new investment, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the inclusion in that preferential tariff system of new Ecuadorian products for export.

The politicians considered the stimulus of trade relations through an Investments and Trade Council, US support for Ecuador with international finance organizations to obtain funds for additional financing., cooperation extended to Ecuadorian migrants in the United States and an agreement on Social Security.

They discussed the process of accepting academic degrees, cooperation programs for the surveillance of air and sea spaces under Ecuadorian jurisdiction and strengthening of Ecuador’s institutional capability in defense, drug trafficking and international organized crime, cyberspace security and development, funding and technical assistance for emblematic social programs known as the “House for Everyone Plan” and “The Manuelas.”

US State Department advised that Pompeo’s tour includes Argentina, Mexico and El Salvador to strengthen alliances in the Western Hemisphere against regional and global challenges, Pompeo plans to boost cooperation in security and stressed US commitment to democracy, human rights and increasing economic opportunity for US citizens. The visit to Ecuador is part of a new collaboration that began when Moreno assumed the presidency in May 2017.

Political polarization in the U.S. may have negative effects on its alignment with the struggle of the Venezuelan people to bring down the chavista dictatorship, reverse the ongoing humanitarian tragedy and lay the groundwork for building a free, prosperous, inclusive and safe society.

It is key for Venezuelan democrats that the alignment of the American government with these goals becomes State policy shared and assumed by both Republicans and Democrats. Such a desideratum can be adversely affected by the radicalism of the confrontation between the two political parties; constantly incited by the Trump administration, which the proximity of the 2020 presidential elections also promotes.

It would be tragic that the logic of the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” or that the nuanced and poor view on left-wing dictatorships and authoritarian regimes or false “progressives” tend to have a share in political liberalism (progressives in the U.S.) is imposed in the Democratic Party in relation to the Venezuelan case.

Another matter of concern is the attitude of the new and growing left-wing sector, within the democrats, who emerged with power from the latest legislative elections. They may assess the Venezuelan situation in a fair manner or only know the story told by members of chavismo and its lobbyists about being social heroes who have been victims of the “imperialism” led by Trump.

It is an urgent task of all those who make and put into practice the international policies of the interim Presidency and its diplomatic staff in the U.S. (recognized by the respective Government as legitimate representatives of Venezuela) to make all contacts and efforts so both society and the political class can learn about the nature of the chavista regime and its harmful consequences for the lives of Venezuelans and the interests and national security of the U.S.

Venezuela Calls Latest US Sanctions “Economic Terrorism”

UNITED NATIONS
Washington’s imposition of a freeze on Venezuelan regime assets and a ban on transactions with Maduro’s administration is “economic terrorism,” Caracas’ representative to the United Nations said .

With this move, the United States has dropped the pretence of caring about democratic norms in favor of an open attempt to “sabotage” the dialogue between Maduro and the opposition, Samuel Moncada told a press conference at UN headquarters. The ambassador cited US National Security Adviser John Bolton, who told the International Conference for Democracy in Venezuela: “The time for dialogue is over. Now is the time for action.”

Bolton, a key architect of the US effort to topple the leftist Maduro regime, dismissed the talks taking place under Norwegian auspices between representatives of the Venezuelan government and Washington-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido. “Mr. Bolton is not Venezuelan. The dialogue is among Venezuelans. Who is Mr. Bolton to stick his nose in?” Moncada asked rhetorically.

Bolton ‘s comments came at a gathering of many of the roughly 50 nations who joined the US in denouncing Maduro’s May 2018 re-election as illegitimate and recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president.

Accompanying Bolton in Lima was US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who presented an economic program for a post-Maduro transition that Moncada described as a “colonial plan to rearrange Venezuela after they topple our government.”

The Venezuelan envoy delivered letters to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council formally asking the world body to condemn a “series of hostile aggressive actions against Venezuela” by the US. Drafted before Trump announced the new sanctions , Moncada attacks the president’s prior public threats to impose a blockade or quarantine on Venezuela and US militar actions. Venezuela documented over 55 aerial incursions by US military planes, the ambassador said, characterizing those episodes as the “systemic execution of a plan” to provoke an incident that would serve as a pretext for armed intervention.

On statements by Bolton that individuals, firms and countries would have to choose between trading with Venezuela and trading with the United States, Moncada denounced the US as a “rogue state” with aims of global domination. Washington’s policy is “the United States “über alles.”

Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, accused the US of seeking to make Venezuela the battlefield in Washington’s “geopolitical war against Russia and against China.” Russia and China are among 140 countries that recognize Maduro as president of Venezuela. Working with allies, Venezuela built “an alternative architecture” to evade US sanctions, Arreaza said, while acknowledging that Washington’s latest measures would make it “more difficult and expensive” to obtain food, medicine and other necessities from abroad.

Vice president Delcy Rodriguez blasted new US sanctions, saying that they would harm “the entire Venezuelan people,” including the business community and opponents of Maduro. She wondered whether Trump announced the new punitive measures “to conceal the terrible internal situation” in the US following mass shootings

Then-President Barack Obama imposed US sanctions on Venezuela in 2015, but the policy shifted into high gear after Trump took office in 2017. Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research estimated that the sanctions caused more than 40,000 deaths in Venezuela in 2017-2018.

Venezuela warned citizens to postpone planned trips to the U.S. or take precautions due to the “proliferation of violent acts and indiscriminate hate crimes” . The government blamed the “supremacist elite” in power in Washington, saying that violence found “sustenance” in “racial discrimination and hate” fueled against immigrants. It advised avoiding crowds, noting the “inexcusable” and “indiscriminate” possession of firearms by Americans.

Earlier this year, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning against Venezuela amid political unrest. and one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Conditions Exist to end Crisis

CARACAS –Speaker of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Juan Guaido, recognized by some 50 countries as the nation’s interim president, said that conditions exist to pull Venezuela out of its ongoing national crisis, after his meeting with European Union mediator Enrique Iglesias.

“We now have the conditions to leave the crisis behind….. there has been progress, we have created the opportunities,” the opposition leader said after his private meeting with Iglesias, sent by the EU to achieve peace and harmony attended by lawmakers Angel Medina, Guillermo Luces, Manuel Texeira, Arnoldo Benitez, Gustavo Pratt and Carlos Prosperi. Iglesias arrived at the legislature and left about half an hour later.

About Barbados talks with the Maduro regime with support of the Norwegian government, Guaido asked one and all “not to commit the mistake of seeing a single mechanism as the solution,” and insisted on maintaining both internal and foreign pressure on the party in power.
The opposition agenda “in any kind of mediation, as in the case of the International Contact Group,” is based on ending the usurped presidency, installing a transition government and calling the Venezuelan people to “free” elections with international observers.
“I don’t trust a single mechanism,” he said, asking citizens to “continue to mobilize” protests in the streets.

Opposition lawmaker Carlos Valero apologised to United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, for “insults” by the executive branch. Maduro and the second most-powerful official in the regime, Diosdado Cabello, claimed that a UN report was composed by the US special envoy to Venezuela, Elliot Abrams. Valero said that those insults “do not represent the feelings of the Venezuelan people,” and added that the UN report includes what the Venezuelan regime has “repeated for more than 10 years,” like the “massive persecution of dissidents.”

The regime announced that talks with the opposition in Barbados and mediated by Norway had concluded successfully but did not provide details. Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez tweeted that the discussions served as a space for the “settlement of disputes through constitutional and peaceful channels.” He said that the meetings were “successful” and thanked the Barbados Prime Minister for hospitality. No other leader offered details about these talks held discreetly between the regime and the speaker of the National Assembly, opposition leader Juan Guaido, . Chavista leader Diosdado Cabello said no fresh presidential elections as demanded by the opposition would be announced as a result of these talks, since Maduro only began his second six-year term in January.

Maduro Slams UN Human Rights Report

CARACAS – Venezuela’s embattled incumbent Nicolas Maduro said on Monday he had demanded the rectification of what he described as lies included in the latest United Nations report on the situation of human rights in the South American country.

Maduro also said that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and former president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, had “made a wrong call” with the report’s outcome.

During a press conference at the Miraflores presidential palace, Maduro said that Venezuela’s foreign affairs ministry had called for the “rectification of lies, falsehoods and manipulations” in the report presented by Bachelet.

Maduro added that he would send a personal note to Bachelet – which was set to be published in Geneva within a period of 48 hours – in which he would expose “several truths about the history of Latin America” and would ask her not to turn to “fascism, oligarchy and interventionism.”

He said that the UN report had been written by people who were enemies of Venezuela and the so-called Bolivarian Revolution, while at the same time denying that his regime was under any pressure and dismissing it as “just another report” that he said had been dictated by the United States Department of State.

In the report presented by Bachelet, it is alleged that the Maduro regime and the institutions had set in place a strategy “focused on neutralizing, repressing and criminalizing the political opposition and those who criticize the government” since 2016.

The report was prepared with 500 interviews – conducted in Venezuela and in eight other countries – from alleged witnesses of fundamental human rights violations between January 2018 and May 2019.

Maduro accused the United States Special Representative for Venezuela Elliot Abrams of exerting “personal pressure on Bachelet.”

He added that he had welcomed the former Chilean president “with goodwill” and said that she had refused to listen to or see the reality of the country.

Venezuela has been witnessing extreme political tensions since January, when Maduro was sworn in for another six-year term after winning elections which the opposition described as fraudulent. In response, the speaker of the national assembly, Juan Guaido, took oath as the interim president.

Guaido has obtained formal recognition as president from more than 50 governments in a diplomatic blitz spearheaded by the US, despite the fact that he has failed to gain control over the administration or the country’s armed forces.

Constitution

Venezuela has been witnessing extreme political tensions since Maduro was sworn in for another six-year term after winning elections described as fraudulent by the opposition. In response, Guaido took oath as interim president, although he lacks control over the administration or armed forces. Guaido has the backing of over 50 governments, led by the United States, which has repeatedly asked Maduro to call free elections and abandon power.

Building a new Venezuela implies building a new system of human rights from the ground up. Human rights are non-negotiable and neither is the necessity of a legitimate justice that protects them

The 1999 Constitution is broad and diverse in the recognition of human rights but once again the political regime that benefited from that Constitution reduced all human rights to cosmic dust. It is not a paradox, however, because the proclamations of the Constitution were only that, proclamations; there was no intention to comply with them. Everything was a mockery, a fraud to the Venezuelan people. The tragedy of the 21st century proves it unequivocally.

Just after Michelle Bachelet left the country, repression against civilians and military personnel escalated and scandals made international headlines. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was received by the “red” hegemony with much fanfare, was brazenly lied to, and, after offering her declarative guarantees, the regime decided to carry out more intense repression, resulting in the total violation of human rights.

States around the world have the obligation to recognize, guarantee and defend human rights. In democracies, with all the possible hurdles in the way, legality does not operate as an appendix of presidential power. Tyrannies lack rule of law, hence there is no observance of human rights, whatever their Constitutions, or spokespersons say. In the field of human rights, Venezuela under the aegis of the red hegemony has nothing but hot air and constant and increasing widespread violations.

A democratic state based on the rule of law, offers the possibility to deliver justice and prevent further violations, impossible in despotic regimes, in which contempt for human rights is inherent. A country ruled by a predatory satrapy, surviving amid a humanitarian catastrophe, increasingly isolated and crushed by desire for continuity in power, starting with that of its Cuban bosses, cannot offer real human rights. Constitutional and legal proclamations and political verbiage are part of a skillful lie that has prevailed for years.

Blackout

CARACAS – In the OPEC founder holding the largest reserves of petroleum, electric power supply is controlled by state-run Corpoelec which said a new power blackout paralyzed Venezuela. With intermittent outages, some areas remained in the dark due to a general blackout. Another power cut left almost all Caracas without electricity.

The blackout affected federal agencies. In Caracas, the Metro was suspended. 16 states were in total darkness. The power outage disconnected telephones resulting in failures in Internet connections and interrupted drinking-water supply, in a country  dependent on a state-run electricity provider.

Power interruptions occur almost daily in the western states of Falcon, Trujillo, Merida and petroliferous Zulia on the Colombian border. Breakdowns in the service occur daily in the west and in border regions.

In March, an 11-day blackout after two major outages paralyzed the country, motivated the regime to blame the political opposition and the US. The regime began rationing electricity and continued to do so for almost two months, leaving 20 of the 24 states in darkness for 20 hours each week. The regime also created a command center to deal with the crisis and announced the modernization and restructuring of Corpelec.

The opposition said that corruption within the Electric Energy Ministry and poor management of billions of dollars destined for the sector were to blame for the current crisis.

Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said that an “electromagnetic attack” on the country’s main hydroelectric plant caused the blackout, affecting millions.
“First indications … point to the ..an attack of electromagnetic character that sought to affect Guyana’s hydroelectricity generation system, (that country being) the main provider of this service in (this) country”

Hostilities between rival governments are intensifying after President Maduro accused conspirators of orchestrating a “fascist plot” to assassinate senior members of the United Socialist Party, including Maduro, his wife and National Constituent Assembly President Diosdado Cabello. Communications minister Jorge Rodriguez, said the plotters aimed to take military bases in Caracas, free former defence minister Raul Baduel from prison and install him as the country’s president. Rodriguez identified former Brigadier General Eduardo Jose Baez Torrealba, who is based in the Dominican Republic, as the plan’s primary architect.

Maduro Will Consider Invoking Rio Treaty a Hostile Act

The opposition-controlled National Assembly recently voted to re-join the 1947 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR in Spanish ), known as the Rio Treaty – whose core principle is the “hemispheric defense” doctrine establishing an attack against any of its signatories as an attack against all – from which Venezuela withdrew in 2013.
Embattled incumbent Nicolas Maduro warned that his regime would interpret the triggering of a mutual defense pact in the Americas as a hostile act.

“Any attempt to implement the TIAR within Venezuela must be considered, in accordance with the Constitution, as a hostile act against our national sovereignty and an aggression on the territory, people, peace and international law,” Maduro said at the army barracks.

A majority of lawmakers in the National Assembly approved Venezuela’s reincorporation to the pact in a special street session in east Caracas. Speaker Juan Guaido, recognized as interim president by over 50 countries, rushed the bill through the assembly without allowing amendments. “It’s not magic” he told supporters at the Alfredo Sadel Square.

The Treaty contemplates the possibility of military cooperation. Maduro’s backers fear that it could be used as a conduit for foreign troops to invade the country.

Maduro described the parliament’s decision as “an act of clownery” and accused the opposition of engaging in “extremist politics for minorities.” Intelligence agency SEBIN was ready to detain “the criminals who want Venezuela to be invaded.” The Treaty was denounced in 2012 by left-wing governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela in 2012, who questioned why it had not been invoked during the 1982 Falklands War.

Trump freezes Venezuelan assets in US before Lima Group conference

A day after President Trump ordered a freeze on all Venezuelan government assets in the United States and barred transactions with its authorities “in light of the continued usurpation of power” by the socialist leader, delegates from some 60 countries met in Lima to discuss the political crisis in Venezuela. As Washington steps up pressure on President Maduro to step down, it was convened by the Lima Group, which includes a dozen Latin American countries and Canada helping to mediate in the crisis.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross are in the US delegation, which is expected to announce further punitive measures against Maduro in the Peruvian capital.

The “sweeping steps” will have “a lot of potential consequences“, Mr Bolton said, stressing that Mr Trump is committed to a transition of power in Venezuela.

The oil-rich republic, enduring rampant economic woes, was plunged into a political crisis when National Assembly head Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in January, accusing Mr Maduro of usurping power.

Mr Guaido was recognised by over 50 nations, including the United States but efforts to oust Mr Maduro stalled despite international support and widespread discontent with the president, clinging to power with the backing of the military, Russia and PRC.

The government and the opposition camps held talks, but Mr Bolton said Mr Maduro was “not serious. We’re at a point where we need to see less talk and more action,” he said, adding that it is Washington’s “intention that the transfer (of power) be peaceful.”

Venezuela has been in deep recession for five years. Shortages of food and medicine are extensive and public services are progressively failing.

7 million people need aid, according to United Nations, while 4 million fled the country since the start of 2016.

The International Monetary Fund says inflation will hit a staggering one million percent this year while the economy will shrink by 35 percent.

Trump Imposes Total Economic Embargo

WASHINGTON – United States President Donald Trump announced his administration would impose a total economic embargo to step up its pressure on Venezuela.

Trump advised Congress that he would issue an executive order freezing all assets of the Venezuelan regime and linked entities and banning most economic transactions with them, allowing exemptions only for the provision of humanitarian aid and for official business conducted by the federal government.

“I have determined that it is necessary to block the property of the Government of Venezuela in light of the continued usurpation of power by the illegitimate Nicolas Maduro regime, as well as the regime’s human rights abuses, arbitrary arrest and detention of Venezuelan citizens, curtailment of free press and ongoing attempts to undermine Interim President Juan Guaido of Venezuela and the democratically-elected Venezuelan National Assembly,” Trump said in the document.

The letter referenced both the executive headed by Maduro – who was re-elected to a second six-year term in March 2018 in what the opposition described as a fraudulent election – and the parallel government headed by Guaido, the speaker of the National Assembly who took oath as interim president on Jan. 23 of this year.

Guaido is recognized by over 50 countries in this capacity, yet he lacks control over the Venezuelan bureaucracy and the armed forces as Venezuelans thole a chaotic political and economic crisis.

The latest move by the US is an escalation of measures seeking to further debilitate the Maduro-led regime, while attempting to bolster Guaido’s power, following in the footsteps of sanctions that Washington had already imposed on Caracas at the beginning of the year.

Crude traded above $55/bbl after Trump imposed a total economic embargo against the government of Venezuela, freezing all its U.S. assets and sharply escalating a campaign aimed at removing Maduro from power. The executive order goes well beyond the sanctions iagainst PDVSA and the country’s financial sector, as well as measures against dozens of Venezuelan officials and entities.

Trump Dominates International Conference for Democracy

LIMA – The hardline stance of the Donald Trump administration on Venezuela, as presented at a Lima conference by US National Security Adviser John Bolton, dominated the international forum to discuss bringing democracy back to the oil-rich OPEC founder.

The event, originally convened to hear different views on the crisis in Venezuela, was transformed by Bolton into a platform where he reaffirmed the unilateral US position and explained measures by Washington to remove embattled incumbent Nicolas Maduro and install Juan Guaido in his place.

Bolton, one of the key strategists behind US policy for the region, arrived in Peru bringing news of new economic sanctions imposed by Washington on Venezuela , the most serious to date and measures that apply to all Venezuelan regime assets held on US territory.
sanctions will cover any institutions or foreign individuals.
Bolton was categorical and insistent in explanations to the approximately 50 countries present at the conclave, the providing support, goods or services to any person included on the list prepared by the US and including the Venezuelan regime.

Any person or legal entity who does business of any kind with the Venezuelan government or any “illegitimate” institution under the authority of Maduro, as well as those who enable his “criminal regime” or undermine the “democratically elected” interim president, Juan Guaido, will be sanctioned by the US.

He advised the conference to “proceed with extreme caution,” saying that “There is no need to risk your business interests with the United States for the purposes of profiting from a corrupt and dying regime.”

Bolton delivered a direct message to Russia and China, who did not send representatives to Lima, telling them that their “support to the Maduro regime is intolerable,” urging Moscow not to “double down on a bad bet,” and telling China that “the quickest route to getting repaid” for its loans to Venezuela is to back “a new legitimate government.”

Among the central issues for the other delegates are the ongoing crisis caused by the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan refugees who fled to neighboring countries and how to help Venezuela recover once the Maduro regime falls.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was tasked with presenting the Trump administration’s plan for “the day after” in Venezuela, matters that – according to what Bolton told the international press in Lima before the forum – would be based on reactivating the petroleum industry. He did not mention the possibility of the US accepting Venezuelan refugees or providing financing to the countries such as Colombia and Peru, who have taken in many thousands.

Bolton indicated that getting Venezuelan oil production back on track with foreign investment would enable the country to once again take in income similar to a European country in short order. That is the best policy to ensure that Venezuelans remain in their home country, adding that that will occur as soon as Maduro falls.

The conference was marked by friction in other areas. At first it had been said that there would be no representatives sent by Guaido – the head of the Venezuelan parliament who took oath as interim president, after which he was recognized by some 50 nations as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. However, one of Guaido’s representatives – Julio Borges, Guaido’s envoy to the Group of Lima – was on hand and that resulted in both Mexico and Uruguay refusing to attend the conference to which they were invited although originally they had said they would attend. Others, including Spain and the delegation from the European Union, stayed away from the meeting at which Borges was present and only attended the central session where reconstruction and the migrant issue where discussed.

Maduro Suspends Dialogue with Opposition

CARACAS – Venezuela’s embattled incumbent Nicolas Maduro announced his regime was suspending the scheduled talks with the opposition because its leader Juan Guaido supports the total economic embargo imposed by the United States.

Maduro ordered his delegation to not travel to Barbados – where the talks were taking place under the auspices of Norway – in light of opposition leader Juan Guaido’s backing of the new round of US sanctions.

“President Maduro has decided not to send the Venezuelan delegation on this occasion due to the grave and brutal aggression perpetrated in a continuous and wily fashion by the Trump administration against Venezuela,” read the statement by Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez. “We, Venezuelans, have noted with deep indignation that the head of the opposition delegation, Juan Guaido, praises, promotes and supports these harmful actions.”

The opposition delegation appointed by Guaido, recognized as the country’s interim president by more than 50 nations, was already in Barbados. The meetings between the regime and the opposition were meant to be the third round of talks.

US President Trump said in a letter to Congress that he was issuing an executive order freezing all assets of the Venezuelan regime and linked entities and banning most economic transactions with them, allowing exemptions only for the provision of humanitarian aid and for official business conducted by the federal government.

The latest move by the US can be seen as an escalation of measures seeking to further debilitate the Maduro-led regime – as the oil-rich republic undergoing a chaotic political and economic crisis – while attempting to bolster Guaido’s power, following in the footsteps of sanctions that Washington imposed on Caracas at the beginning of the year.

Guaido previously said that he wants to continue the process of dialogue with the ruling party despite the doubts expressed by some of his international allies.
The opposition leader, after hearing the position of US National Security Advisor John Bolton regarding the Norwegian-sponsored talks, acknowledged that he understood “the skepticism shown not only by Ambassador Bolton,” but also by other allies.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Nestor Popolizio and the members of the so-called International Contact Group had also expressed their reservations about this process.
Guaido insisted that the strategy to achieve “the cessation of usurpation” – , Maduro’s exit from power – had been proposed by “us Venezuelans” and said that he counted on “the world’s support.”

‘Weaponized’ foreign aid is backfiring

Some aid groups are asking U.S. officials if they can strip legally required U.S. branding from assistance sent to the country,

Aid groups, eager to receive planeloads of humanitarian assistance from the United States, hoping to alleviate severe food and medicine shortages do not want the U.S. label attached to it. President Trump has so closely linked U.S. humanitarian assistance to his attempt to oust Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro — even placing goods along the country’s border as an incentive for Venezuelans to revolt — that some groups are citing security concerns and asking U.S. officials if they can strip legally required U.S. branding from aid sent to Venezuela.

Some organizations are looking at other options, such as seeing if the U.S. funding can be masked by routing it through the United Nations, or at ways to diversify their funding sources so that they can use more non-American aid to help Venezuelans, various aid experts said.

The situation reflects broader fears that Trump’s unusually politicized approach to handing out U.S. aid worldwide is backfiring, tarnishing America’s brand and possibly risking the lives of people from Latin America to the Palestinian territories.

“The Trump administration seems to have weaponized humanitarian assistance,” said a former employee at the U.S. Agency for International Development. “We used to be able to say we’re not choosing sides, that all we’re doing is alleviating human suffering. We’ve lost that now.”

Venezuela has been a particularly blatant example, aid officials say.“This whole idea that in Venezuela aid was going to be part of a political change process — it’s rare to see it that overt,” said the Norwegian Refugee Council, which has not yet received U.S. funding for work inside Venezuela. “It’s just not a good way to do aid. If you’re really concerned about the welfare of the people of Venezuela you find the ways that are available to get the maximum amount of assistance to those people.”

America’s foreign aid decisions have never been entirely apolitical — every presidential administration, disburses aid in ways it hopes will benefit the U.S. image. That’s part of the reason such assistance is branded with phrases like “from the United States.” But aid officials and analysts say Trump and his aides have intervened to exceptional degrees to direct the funds and goods in ways designed to benefit one side in a conflict — and to bolster Trump’s standing with his Republican political base. It’s an approach that may violate core international principles that such assistance be politically neutral, especially if intended for humanitarian reasons.

“In a conflict environment or a politically contested environment, if you align aid with one or the other side, it has a much harder time getting through,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, of the Center for Global Development who worked at USAID under the Obama administration.

Trump announced it is severing future aid to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala if those countries do not stop the flow of migrants to the United States, a step that plays well with anti-immigration hard-liners but one officials warn could actually lead to more migrants seeking to leave those countries. A State Department spokesperson insisted that the administration “provides humanitarian assistance based on need, and in accordance with well-established humanitarian principles,” but added that “it is also important to continually assess our foreign assistance based on a number of factors … with the top consideration being that our assistance should align with American interests.”

On Jan. 23, Trump announced he no longer recognized Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president. Instead, Trump said he supported opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s claim to be “interim president” of the struggling country. Dozens of other nations lined up to do the same after years of mounting frustration with Maduro and his economically disastrous policies.

The U.S. delivered over 200 tons of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid along Venezuela’s border, with the goal of spurring Venezuelans — including military leaders — to rally against Maduro and push him out. The f revolt was supposed to be Feb. 23, but the push ended in bloody clashes along the border and Maduro didn’t fall.

Since then, Venezuelans who deal with U.S. aid groups — even those who have little love for Maduro — expressed growing unease about accepting food, medicine or other goods that carry the American brand, fearing doing so will make them targets of Maduro supporters. The autocrat retains the backing of the military as well as armed groups, colectivos.

Venezuelan aid partners told U.S.-based humanitarian organizations they are especially worried about U.S.-branded material along border areas because of the possibility that people carrying such items back into Venezuela could be in danger. Another humanitarian official said there have been reports of Venezuelan aid workers being threatened because of their perceived connections to the United States.

Some U.S.-based aid groups have worked for years inside the country of around 30 million people but under Maduro, much of that has been through local partners and with low visibility. Some 4 million Venezuelans left the country in recent years, leading aid groups to scale up efforts to help refugees and the countries hosting them, such as Colombia.

One positive outcome of the Trump pressure campaign is that, since the February push, Maduro effectively admitted that there is a major humanitarian crisis, which he was unwilling to do before. He allowed in large-scale foreign assistance in April, permitting the Red Cross to launch a relief campaign. The Red Cross is politically neutral but Maduro may hope it will strengthen his precarious position, while Guaidó and his embattled supporters are trying to take credit by saying their pressure forced Maduro to bend.

With the expectation that Maduro will keep allowing in more international assistance, aid organizations are likely to find themselves grappling even more often with the issue of U.S.-branded aid and its political sensitivities. “Our experience is that when you mix political objectives and humanitarian objectives, undoubtedly it puts the lives of humanitarians in danger, and it makes vulnerable people even more vulnerable,” one official said.

Elliott Abrams, US special envoy for Venezuela, called the criticisms of the American approach “nonsense.”

“U.S. policy in Venezuela has precisely been to demand that aid not be politicized, which has been the unremitting practice of the Maduro regime,….. Aid goes to [United Socialist Party of Venezuela] members and others favored by the regime. That is why we continue to insist that aid go through the church … or other organizations that will deliver it on the basis of need rather than politics.” As far as U.S. branding of the aid — which is typically required under American law — “exceptions can be and are made when the situation suggests it.”

Venezuela’s government has long been anti-American, especially under Hugo Chávez, a socialist-inspired leftist whose many acolytes are dubbed Chavistas. One of them, Maduro, took over as president in 2013 after Chavez’ death, and his government has been accused of extraordinary levels of corruption and economic mismanagement.

Venezuela was once one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries, but over the past decade, its economy has crumbled, inflation has hobbled its currency and crime has risen. One in four Venezuelans needs humanitarian aid and that the vast majority now live in poverty.

Maduro, with political backing from Russia and Cuba, blames the United States for the problems in Venezuela. He cast the events of Feb. 23 as a U.S. effort to use humanitarian assistance as a Trojan horse to take over Venezuela, a narrative echoed in some left-wing quarters.

“It fits into the ‘Chavista-Maduro’ mythology about the role of American domination,” said a senior official with a U.S.-headquartered humanitarian group that deals with Venezuelans.