Venezuela January 25, 2019
Venezuelas US-Backed Coup Leader Immediately Targets State Oil Company,
Requests IMF Money
Unelected US-backed coup leader Juan Guaidó immediately moved to try to
restructure Venezuelas state-owned oil company and seek financing from the
neoliberal IMF.
By Ben Norton
The right-wing opposition leader that the United States is trying to
undemocratically install as Venezuelas president immediately set his sights
on the countrys state-owned oil company, which he is hoping to restructure
and move toward privatization. He is also seeking money from the notorious
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to fund his unelected government.
On January 23, US President Donald Trump recognized the little-known,
US-educated opposition politician Juan Guaidó as the supposed interim
president of Venezuela. Within 48 hours, Guaidó quickly tried to seize
control of Venezuelas major US-based oil refiner and use its revenue to
help bankroll his US-backed coup regime.
Guaidó is attempting to fire the directors of Citgo Petroleum, which is
owned by Venezuelas state oil company PDVSA, and seeks to appoint his own
new board.
Reuters described Citgo as Venezuelas most important foreign asset;
Bloomberg calls it the crown jewel of PDVSAs assets.
Citgo is the largest purchaser of Venezuelan oil, although crippling
sanctions imposed by the Trump administration have prevented the company
from sending revenue to Venezuela, starving the government of funding.
Citing US officials, the Washington Post reported that the Trump
administrations strategy is to use the newly declared interim government
as a tool to deny Maduro the oil revenue from the United States that
provides Venezuela virtually all of its incoming cash.
Move Toward Privatizing Venezuelas Oil
Venezuela has the worlds largest oil reserves. But leftist presidents Hugo
Chávez and Nicolás Maduro have over the past two decades resisted attempts
by US oil companies to exploit the South American nations plentiful natural
resources.
The oil reporting agency S&P Global Platts reported that, in the immediate
wake of the US anointing Juan Guaidó as Venezuelas supposed president,
the opposition leader already drafted plans to introduce a new national
hydrocarbons law that establishes flexible fiscal and contractual terms for
projects adapted to oil prices and the oil investment cycle.
This plan would involve the creation of a new hydrocarbons agency that
would offer bidding rounds for projects in natural gas and conventional,
heavy and extra-heavy crude.
In other words, these are rapid moves to privatize Venezuelas oil and open
the door for multinational corporations.
As The Grayzone previously reported, Venezuelas right-wing opposition has
already stated clearly in its transition plans: Public companies will be
subject to a restructuring process that ensures their efficient and
transparent management, including through public-private agreements.
S&P Global Platts also indicated that US sanctions are hitting Venezuela
hard, and Trump administration officials could soon tighten the screws:
the US imposed sanctions that have severely hampered PDVSAs ability to
raise new financing or restructure its crushing debt load.
US officials said they are prepared to invoke further sanctions on
Venezuelas oil sector, including a full embargo on US imports of Venezuelan
crude, if Maduros standoff with Guaido escalates in further violence or
political crackdown.
Market sources said the US recognition of Guaido as the legitimate leader
of Venezuela could prompt US refiners to stop purchases of Venezuelan crude
while Maduro remains in power.
Neoconservative US Senator Marco Rubio, who has been deeply involved in the
coup, also let the cat out of the bag when he repeatedly brought up oil, and
publicly called on oil workers to cut off Maduro and begin working with
Guaidó.
Coup Financing from Neoliberal IMF
The attempted restructuring of Citgo would just be the beginning of the
neoliberal capitalist policies implemented by Venezuelas US-backed coup
regime.
Reuters also reported that Guaidó is considering a request for funds from
international institutions including the IMF to finance his interim
government.
The International Monetary Fund is notorious as a vehicle for US political
and economic influence. For decades, the IMF, along with the World Bank, has
trapped ostensibly independent Latin American nations in debt and imposed
so-called structural adjustment programs that force governments to impose
brutal neoliberal shock therapy on their populations, including austerity
measures, privatization of state assets, deregulation, and gutting of social
services.
Venezuelas previous elected socialist president, Hugo Chávez, broke ties
with the IMF and World Bank, which he noted were dominated by US
imperialism. Instead Venezuela and other left-wing governments in Latin
America worked together to co-found the Bank of the South, as a
counterbalance to the IMF and World Bank.
Guaidó has moved to re-integrate Venezuela into these very same
Washington-dominated financial institutions. In addition to seeking
financing from the IMF, Guaidó is likewise trying to send a new
representative to the Inter-American Development Bank.
Venezuelas right-wing opposition has made it clear that it plans to pursue
aggressive neoliberal capitalist reforms. The opposition-controlled National
Assembly has also declared in its transition plans that the centralized
model of controls of the economy will be replaced by a model of freedom and
market based on the right of each Venezuelan to work under the guarantees of
property rights and freedom of enterprise.
This plan might be a dream for foreign corporations, but even many
Venezuelans marching against their government might soon decide that
stripping state assets is not worth fighting for.
Ben Norton
Ben Norton is a journalist and writer. He is a reporter for The Grayzone