The fund would receive income accrued by state-run oil firm PDVSA’s US unit Citgo Petroleum Corp since last month, when US President Donald Trump recognized Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state.
Guadio, head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, last month declared himself to be the South American country’s interim ruler.
BOLTON’S THREATS
White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday the United States would consider lifting sanctions on senior Venezuelan military officers if they recognize Guaido as interim leader. “If not, the international financial circle will be closed off completely,” Bolton wrote on Twitter.
Aside from one senior general, who recognized Guaido in a video and urged others in the military to do the same, most of Venezuela’s top military officers have not defected from Maduro.
Citgo, the eighth-largest US refiner and Venezuela’s top foreign asset, is in the middle of a tug of war as the United States has made aggressive moves to remove it from Maduro’s control and imposed sanctions on OPEC-member Venezuela’s oil industry.