PDVSA oil exports drop 32% in 2019, mainly due to the blacklisted of oil tankers involved in the shipment of Venezuelan oil. On January 22 Chevron's license to operate in Venezuela expire, and there is a great possibility that the U.S. Treasury department would not renews it. Venezuela oil crisis keeps deepening.
Pompeo after meeting with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, said that the U.S. would take more actions in an effort to oust the Maduro regime. The National Assembly is the only body with the power to hand out oil licenses, making more difficult for the regime to take control of the oil industry. On January 21, the U.S. blacklisted 15 aircrafts belonging to PDVSA, another blow to the regime.
This latest sanctions against Rosneft Trading, is proof that the Trump administration is serious about removing the Maduro regime from power in Venezuela. The knot around Maduro’s neck keeps tightening.
Maduro regime has not been able to pay CAF outstanding debt, and now it trying to sell shears in CAF to pay its debt. The opposition want CAF to restructure the debt instead of selling the shares.
Trump administration has escalated the pressure against Maduro regime. Trump renew his threat of a naval blockade. Two subsidiaries of Russian oil company Rosneft have been sanctioned and Chevron Oil Company, still operating in Venezuela, has been notified that its license will not be renewed. The sanctions have taken a heavy toll in the economy of the country.
The financial crisis of Maduro’s regime has been exacerbated due to low oil prices. Oil output had decline below 500,000 b/d. The regime oil problem is compounders by the coronavirus outbreak. Venezuela broken health-care system was losing already a battle against traditional sickness like measles and malaria, and now is much worse with only one bed for every 1,250 people. Basic food and consumer goods are in very short supply and hard to obtain, and inflation is the highest in the world.
Maduro’s regime has become a haven for drug trafficking and smuggling. The Colombia guerrilla National Liberation Army stablished cocaine trafficking through Venezuela, to be send to the U.S. and Europe. The “Cartel of the Suns”, a parastatal organization of drug trade, mostly involving high ranking military officers, use people inside the regime security forces to smuggle cocaine. Maduro has promoted individuals accused of drug trafficking to high positions in the government. The reward of $15 million for Maduro and similar offers for the top regime figures, would be extremely tempted for some military officers and acquaintances.In Effort to Oust Maduro, U.S. Gives ‘Maximum Pressure’ a New Meaning
Venezuela & Nicolas Maduro: U.S. Ups ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign | National Review
By DANIEL TENREIRO April 9, 2020 2:39 PM
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro meets with Russia’s ambassador Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, March 30, 2020. (Miraflores Palace/Reuters)
The Venezuelan regime has proven agonizingly resilient over the years, but its time may finally be up.
Just over a year ago, the U.S. enacted a policy of putting “maximum pressure” on the Venezuelan dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro. After sham elections, Maduro held his second inauguration in January of 2019 amid widespread public protests. Shortly thereafter, opposition National Assembly president Juan Guaidó assumed the interim presidency, in keeping with the Venezuelan constitution’s provisions on replacing an illegitimate president. As Venezuelans took to the streets in protest against the Maduro regime, the international community coalesced around Guaidó, with 60 governments recognizing him as the Venezuelan head of state.
As part of the “maximum pressure” policy, the Treasury Department expanded sanctions against Venezuela, specifically targeting oil exports and high-ranking regime officials. U.S. policymakers intended to weaken Maduro’s standing within the country and cause defections in the government and military. But in recent years, the regime has carefully cultivated loyalty within the armed services by handing over key sectors of the economy to military leaders and embedding Cuban security personnel to stamp out dissent. So the sanctions proved incapable of meaningfully crippling Maduro’s regime. With help from the Russian oil firm Rosneft, Maduro continued to export oil, while illicit trade in narcotics and gold buoyed government coffers. With little domestic appetite for military intervention, the U.S.’s efforts to oust Maduro stalled.
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Tareck El Aissami was appointed Minister of Petroleum April 27, 2020. He has been accused of corruption, money laundering and drug trafficking. He is in the ICE most wanted list. Tareck, who is of Lebanese decent, has supported Iran’s Lebanese Hezbollah, providing Venezuelan passports to Hezbollah recruits.
With oil prices at rock bottom and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA oil production still falling, Maduro’s regime crisis keeps deepening. This latest move by the FBI no doubt will increased the pressure, making very difficult for it to survive without substances revenues from the oil industry. Another nail in the coffin.
Now the ball is in the Iranian court. The U.S. Navy is ready in the Caribbean Sea and the Persian Gulf, where the gunships are ready to deliver Trump’s warning to Iran. As the US envoy Elliott Abrams says that allowing Iran to sell gasoline to Venezuela is a “very dangerous transaction to assist.”
Due to the abysmal low oil production, the Maduro regime is facing a great shortage of gasoline with people waiting in long lines to fill the tanks. The regime has rationed the amount of gasoline people can by and at the same time has increased the gasoline price.
The message is loud and clear. Those that work with Iran and Venezuela are at great risk. They will face hard repercussions from the U.S. Helping those regimes is not worth the risk.Treasury sanctions Iranian ship captains after gasoline delivery to Venezuela
Treasury sanctions Iranian ship captains after gasoline delivery to Venezuela
PUBLISHED WED, JUN 24 2020
Amanda Macias@AMANDA_M_MACIAS
Iranian flagged fuel tanker ‘Fortune’ is seen after it was docked at El Palito refinery in Puerto Cabello, state of Carabobo, Venezuela, on May 26, 2020.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department on Wednesday slapped fresh sanctions on five Iranian ship captains who delivered gasoline to Venezuela, whose once-thriving oil industry has suffered a breakdown.
The Iranian shipping sector is a frequent target of the Trump administration for its financial support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.
Earlier this week, five Iranian tankers brought approximately 1.5 million barrels to the gas-starved country, which was once a prominent fuel exporter. The move was likely to anger Washington as the two OPEC nations sidestep U.S. sanctions.
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Reuters announced that Venezuela's crude output fell in June to the lowest level in nearly eight decades. Venezuela crude oil production in June was 393,000 barrels per day (bpd) due mainly to U.S. sanctions. That was the lowest monthly total since February 1943 when it produced 353,000 bpd. Signs of collapse of Venezuela oil industry and consequently the Maduro regime are very strong.U.S. Ups Pressure To Push Venezuela Oil Exports To Zero
U.S. Ups Pressure To Push Venezuela Oil Exports To Zero | OilPrice.com
By Charles Kennedy - Jul 13, 2020, 10:30 AM CDT
The United States is pressing shippers, insurers, certification organizations, and flag states registering vessels not to work with Venezuela as the Trump Administration is looking to cut off Nicolas Maduro’s regime from international oil trade, Elliott Abrams, the U.S. Administration’s special representative for Venezuela, told Reuters in an interview.
“What you will see is most ship owners and insurance and captains are simply going to turn away from Venezuela,” Abrams told Reuters as the United States continues to step up the sanctions pressure on Venezuela and anyone dealing with Maduro.
Under the increased pressure from the United States, the companies classifying ships are asked to check if vessels have participated in shipments to Venezuela. If a certification or classification is withdrawn, the tanker and the oil it carries become uninsured.
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The Maduro regime has sent 16.5 million barrels of oil from January to July of 2020 to the Castroit regime on credit. Maduro has become a figurehead of the Castroit regime in charge of Cubazuela. The regime use the amount of oil its needs and resale the rest on the open market, sucking the oil of Venezuela as a chupacabra suck the blood of animals.