The Prosecutor’s Office Venezuela issued an arrest warrant against the opponent Juan Guaido and will request a red alert from Interpol, for the first time after twenty investigations opened against him, on the basis of investigations by a United States court revealed by the press.

Prosecutors have been appointed “to issue an arrest warrant against him and the respective request for a red alert from Interpol so that this subject pays for these crimes of which the justice of the United States of America is now aware and disseminates.”declared prosecutor Tarek William Saab this Thursday, in a televised speech by the public prosecutor.

The pro-government prosecutor accuses the opponent of having “handed over” Citgo, the American subsidiary of the national oil company PDVSA, for which legal proceedings are underway in the United States and could lead to an auction of recover the debts of Venezuela and the State itself.

Guaidó headed a symbolic interim government supported by the United States and fifty governments that They ignored the re-election of President Nicolas Maduro in 2018 considering it “fraudulent”.

Under this interim, which Guaidó led as “acting president” from 2019 to January this yearMaduro’s opponents took control of Citgo and appointed a board of directors to negotiate with creditors.

Federal Judge Leonard Stark last year approved measures to sell shares of PDV Holding – Citgo’s parent company – as compensation to Canadian company Crystallex for the expropriation of a mine in Venezuela in 2011. Companies like the American ConocoPhillips joined the litigation.

Countries and public companies are normally considered separate entities, but Stark validates the creditors’ argument: for the magistrate, Citgo is an “alter ego” of the government of Venezuelatherefore, it is an asset available to pay the commitments of PDVSA and the nation.

In August, the opposition appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to review a court ruling allowing the sale of Citgo shares.

Citgo management

Currently, Guaidó is in the United Stateswhere he arrived in April from Colombia, a neighboring country Venezuela in which he appeared unexpectedly.

According to Maduro, in May, Guaidó fled “to coordinate the flight” from Citgo.

“Guaidó used the resources of PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela) to cause losses close to or greater than $19 billion“, said Saab, supported by “revelations” provided to the press “by a United States federal court.”

Denying these accusations, Guaidó assured during a live broadcast on Instagram that “they used fake news to talk about the alleged $19 billion the country owes for illegal bond issuance (and) expropriations since the time of (Hugo) Chávez (1999-2013).

The investigation announced by Saab joins 27 others which already weigh on Guaidó.

However, this is the first arrest warrant issued against the self-proclaimed leader. “Acting President” in front of a crowd in 2019 and became Venezuela’s opposition leader until his popularity eroded within months.

Saab also highlighted that since 2019 they have accepted 288 arrest warrants for investigations involving Guaidó, with 129 opposition collaborators arrested and 63 “accomplices” convicted.

The crimes accused by Guaidó are: treason, usurpation of functions, profit or extraction of money, public securities or assets, money laundering and criminal conspiracy.

“To vote in the primaries”

Guaidó calls these statements “propaganda” aimed at “physically and morally persecuting the Venezuelan opposition” on the eve of primary elections where it is planned to choose the candidate who will face Maduro in the 2024 elections.

“The question is once again: why then, why now, 17 days before the primaries? Continue to distort what is happening in the country”he declared, inviting people to vote for the primaries, marked by the disqualification of the main candidates.

“We must participate on October 22 (…) The coherent response to a dictatorship is mobilization,” he stressed.

• In this context of political tensions, Citgo could be put up for auction if a renegotiation does not succeed with those seeking to recover the debts of Venezuela by selling their shares, which the Maduro government called “theft.”
• Legal claims aimed at its settlement exceed $20 billion.