President Nicolas Maduro, Caracas, Venezuela, May 15, 2023. | Photo: Prensa Presidencial

Caracas, May 16 (RHC)-- President Nicolas Maduro expressed his support for the "Bill for the Protection of the Venezuela's Assets, Rights, and Interests Abroad,, which will be submitted to its second plenary discussion in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

"With all my energy, spirit, and strength, I ask for the support of the entire country for this bill that the National Assembly is analyzing to protect our assets in the world," he said.

This bill arose as a result of a recent decision by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which intends to strip Venezuela of CITGO, a U.S.-based company that is a subsidiary of the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).  

Maduro explained that the OFAC decision harms the Venezuelan State to the tune of some $900 U$D million per month.  "The U.S. government now intends to deliver a final blow.  Who is it hitting?  It hits all Venezuelans.  Whose fault is it?  The far-right bandits are responsible for stealing CITGO from us," he assured.

The Venezuelan leader also referred to the words expressed by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), who recommended that the Organization of American States (OAS) disappear because it is useless.
"Lopez Obrador has always had a very clear vision in international affairs.  Truly, the OAS has a disastrous history.  The OAS is in ruins and its ruins should disappear," Maduro stressed.   "The OAS has endorsed all the invasions and coups that have occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean in the last 70 years," the Venezuelan president recalled.