Alejandro Grisanti: There are still many legal and political recourse opportunities to prevent the loss of Citgo

The director of the Ad Hoc Administrative Board of PDVSA expects the Trump administration to deny the license that would authorize Crystallex to execute the company's embargo.

The director of the Ad Hoc Administrative Board of PDVSA, appointed by the National Assembly, Alejandro Grisanti, said there are still legal and political recourse opportunities that the government of the president in charge Juan Guaidó can pursue to protect Citgo.

“This is a process that has not ended. This is not a firm sentence. There are many legal and political recourse opportunities that can be taken to prevent the loss of Citgo, the main asset of Venezuelans abroad,” Grisanti explained in an interview in the Code 58 program broadcast by TVVenezuela.

He pointed out that the Republic and the state oil company could carry out appeals before different circuits, to argue that PDVSA, Citgo and Venezuela are not the same thing, and that the corporate formalities that make CITGO and independent and separate institution from the republicare being respected after the appointment of the new Administrative Board by the Parliament.

The economist stressed that in the judgment of the Court of Appeals, although it was a setback for Venezuela, it is clear that a license by the Donald Trump Administration is needed for Crystallex to execute the Citgo embargo.

“Venezuela is in a very special process, in a process of sanctions. These sanctions prohibit any relationship, both with PDVSA and with PDVSA companies, and any type of transaction must be approved by OFAC and the US Treasury Secretariat. The American Government has yet to give Crystallex a license so that it can execute this sentence, which we expect, and we are asking the American Government, not to do so. The chances of being denied a license are quite high,” he said.

Grisanti recalled that this trial is the result of “a badly managed nationalization by the Venezuelan State”, since 2008, when Hugo Chavez ruled the country, and that the ruling authorizing Crystallex to seize Citgo occurred in August 2018, when Nicolás Maduro and his attorney were in charge.

“What a barbarity! How is such a big lie possible? This is a debt that is born by a nationalization. President Chavez loved to conjugate the expropriate verb. Expropriate! was what he always said,” he said in response to Maduro's statements, who said the trial was being won by Venezuela and held President Juan Guaidó's team responsible for the possible loss of CITGO.