By Roberto Morejón

The theft in the United States of a subsidiary company of the Venezuelan state company PDVSA through an auction attended by corporate executives, threatens to deprive the South American country of one of its most important assets abroad.

The District Court of the US state of Delaware accepted bids to auction CITGO, an oil refining and gasoline marketing company valued at $21 billion.

The company was acquired by the Venezuelan State in 1990, until the opposition National Assembly in 2015 ordered it to be spun off from the state oil company PDVSA in 2019.

In this way, the Venezuelan extreme right delivered one of the most valued assets in the crude oil industry, until former President Donald Trump confiscated it and later the enclave came to be administered by opposition leaders, including the ghost president, Juan Guaidó.

Citgo has been the target of a sale process for months, authorized by a Delaware court, with the pretext of meeting demands from creditors of the Venezuelan state.

The court denied the arguments of the government of Nicolás Maduro, whom Washington does not recognize, to recover the Venezuelan entity, the sixth largest hydrocarbon refining complex in the United States.

They sell our goods without asking us for authorization or consultations, exclaimed the Venezuelan Minister of Petroleum, Pedro Tellechea, moved, an opinion widespread among the population.

The Venezuelan government stated that it will not recognize what it called a forced sale, as economic guarantees and the adequate process were not met and the defense was denied.

The bid in Delaware, kept secret so as not to affect the Venezuelan opposition ahead of the July 28 elections, stands as further evidence of how far the most recalcitrant sector of those seeking to return to the country to the networks of Washington has gone. .

The planned forced sale of CITGO, wrapped in supposedly judicial garb, is part of the aggressions of the Northern power against the Bolivarian Revolution that contemplate economic asphyxiation.

The act of plunder should lead to reflection for States and businessmen who base their businesses in the northern nation and who may be exposed to procedures that violate International Law.