Venezuela Government thread

[VII]

Trump got trumped.. lol..

[Lou Screuz]

https://www.oilandgas360.com/u-s-slaps- ... oil-trade/

U.S. slaps sanctions on Mexican firms, individuals linked to Venezuelan oil trade

[eliteauto]

Biden Rolls Back Some Trump's Sanctions on Venezuela

This appears to be the first move to lift previous sanctions that were focused on destabilizing the Venezuelan government.

President Joe Biden's administration Tuesday issued a license that lifts sanctions imposed on Venezuela for most of the transactions required for its ports and airports' ordinary operations.
The 'General License 30 A' issued by the U.S. Treasury Department allows U.S. companies to exchange transactions with Venezuela's National Institute of Aquatic Spaces (INEA) or any entity it owns.

The new document overrides the ban imposed on the Latin American country on August 5, 2019, by then-President Donald Trump.

However, "the permit does not support activities related to the export of diluents to Venezuela, or transactions with persons or institutions sanctioned by Washington, other than INEA," the Treasury Department added.
The license is Biden's first move to lift the sanctions imposed by Trump to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro's government.

"The license is a first sign that there is a willingness to review the sanctions and clarify their relevance," international law specialist Mariano de Alba said.

A few days after taking power, Biden assured he would open dialogue channels with Venezuela, ignoring Juan Guaido's calls to follow Trump's approach.

In 2019, Trump recognized Guaido as Venezuela's interim president as he imposed sanctions against oil companies, promoted attempts to assassinate authorities, and launched invasion threats.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bid ... 8HI_Qpr65A

[The_Honourable]

President Joe Biden starts to lift sanctions on Venezuela

Partly because of the war in Ukraine, the United States is rethinking its relationship with oil producers



Things have changed in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. Traffic jams, absent for years, now clog up roads. Political posters, which used to loom over the city preaching grim mantras such as “socialism or death”, have been replaced by advertisements for whisky or cosmetic surgery. The buzz of a motorcycle, once something to fear in the notoriously violent capital, is more likely to herald the arrival of a food delivery than an armed robbery.

Residents, particularly the richer ones, make a sardonic observation: “Venezuela se arregló!” (or, the country “is fixed”, as someone may be with plastic surgery). But despite the veneer of better times, which followed the government’s decision in 2019 to relax price controls and allow trading in the American dollar, the country’s underlying troubles are far from solved. Over the past decade its gdp has shrunk by 70%, and around 7m people, or a quarter of the population, have left the country.

Still, at the end of 2022, Venezuela is very different from how it was in 2019. Back then Juan Guaidó, a little-known opposition leader, was supported by Donald Trump’s American administration and much of the Western world. He looked, for a moment, as if he might be able to oust from power the deeply unpopular left-wing dictator Nicolás Maduro, who had rigged an election the previous year. But Mr Guaidó and his backers misjudged the loyalty Mr Maduro and Hugo Chávez, his predecessor from 1999 to 2013, had bought from the military top brass. They underestimated the regime’s ruthlessness. And they have been wrongfooted by the war in Ukraine, which has created an environment in which the United States is rethinking its relationship with oil producers.

Today Mr Guaidó, although still referred to as “president” by the United States and Britain, is nothing of the sort. Better described as one of several opposition leaders, he spends most of his days fielding Zoom calls from a spartan office above a shopping centre. The constitutional basis for his claim to power, that he leads the country’s elected National Assembly, is becoming weaker. That assembly was replaced by one controlled by Mr Maduro’s regime after a dodgy vote in 2020. And his leadership term expires on January 5th 2023. It looks unlikely that his opposition colleagues will elect him again.

By contrast, Mr Maduro is still very much in power after nine years. And in the past six months the pendulum of geopolitics has swung in his favour. Venezuela sits on 20% of the world’s proven oil reserves, more than any other country. The war in Ukraine has made everyone more nervous about oil supplies, and therefore made the cost of isolating Venezuela seem higher. After decades of mismanagement Venezuela’s oil industry is too run-down to make much difference to global oil markets in the short term, but America and others are thinking about the long term.

Under Mr Trump, America imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil, banking and mining industries as well as more than 140 regime insiders. President Joe Biden, by contrast, is cautiously re-engaging with Venezuela. Mr Biden’s envoys have met members of Mr Maduro’s regime twice in Caracas. In October, seven American citizens imprisoned in Venezuela were exchanged for two nephews of Mr Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores.

And on November 26th the Biden administration made a notable shift. It gave Chevron, an American oil company which currently has four dormant joint ventures with pdvsa, Venezuela’s state-owned oil giant, a limited licence to begin pumping and exporting oil to the United States again. There are several strings attached. The proceeds are meant to pay down the billions of dollars of accumulated debt Venezuela owes Chevron. Payments of royalties or taxes to the regime, or any dividends to pdvsa, are prohibited.

The quid pro quo is that the regime agreed to resume negotiations with the opposition, which it had suspended in October 2021. These restarted in Mexico City on the same day as the American announcement. Mr Maduro is not attending the talks himself (his son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, is going). But they are another step towards easing Mr Maduro’s pariah status.

A display of that came in November, when Mr Maduro made a rare overseas visit to the cop27 summit in Egypt. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, greeted him on the sidelines. The two men spoke for less than two minutes, but broke down years of barriers. Mr Macron addressed Mr Maduro as “president,” even though France does not officially recognise him as a legitimate leader. (Things “keep getting better”, beamed the Venezuelan.)

Mr Maduro also managed to secure a brief conversation with John Kerry, President Biden’s chief climate envoy. This was a small victory for the Venezuelan despot, given that the United States has indicted him on charges of “narcoterrorism” and is offering a $15m reward for information leading to his arrest. The state department later said Mr Maduro had caught Mr Kerry by surprise.

Events closer to home are also helping the tyrant come out of the cold. The victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil’s presidential elections means all the region’s main economies will soon be led by left-wing governments, which are generally less hostile to Mr Maduro than previous right-wing ones were. When Lula, as he is known, takes office in January, he is expected swiftly to resume diplomatic relations with Venezuela’s regime. Already Colombia’s government, under Gustavo Petro, the new left-wing president, has started repairing relations. On November 1st Mr Petro became the first Colombian leader in a decade to be received at the presidential palace in Caracas. “Colombia and Venezuela have a common destiny,” Mr Maduro said. (He meant it as a compliment.)



But foreign governments are taking a gamble by cosying up to Mr Maduro. For a start, Venezuela’s oil may be plentiful, but it is also problematic. It is heavy, laborious to refine, and after years of underinvestment and corruption much of the existing infrastructure of pdvsa is in ruins. Production this year is expected to average 650,000 barrels a day (b/d), a fraction of the government’s own target of 2m b/d and less than a fifth of its 1998 pre-Chávez peak of 3.4m b/d (see chart).

It will take until 2024 for a significant amount of oil to reach markets, says Ángel Alvarado, an opposition congressman who is now at the University of Pennsylvania. Even if Venezuela produced 1m b/d by 2025, it would account for about 1% of current global production. In order to get there other foreign firms such as Spain’s Repsol or Italy’s Eni would need to be able to operate without restrictions. It would also require a huge increase in the amount of foreign investment, which seems unlikely. José Toro Hardy, a former director of pdvsa, estimates that an annual investment of $25bn would be needed over eight years for the company to produce the amount of oil it did two decades ago. Given the regime’s record of stiffing creditors and mistreating investors, that is for now an implausibly large sum.

Second, Mr Maduro’s record also suggests that at the negotiating table he will not play fair. The deal being sought is, broadly, that the regime agrees to hold presidential elections with enough safeguards that they could be deemed free, and the opposition agrees to participate. The Biden administration could offer more of what it describes as “sanctions relief” if steps are made towards returning Venezuela to democracy. But Mr Maduro is unlikely to agree to an election clean enough that he might actually lose.

Perhaps, though, he believes he could win a legitimate vote? Mr Maduro’s approval rating is 26%, according to Datanalisis, a pollster. That is low, but only slightly worse than the most popular opposition leader, Manuel Rosales, the governor of Zulia state, who is at 30%. And he is well above Mr Guaidó, who polls at 16%. The pro-regime governor of Carabobo state, Rafael Lacava, has a 40% approval rating, but has never indicated he will stand against Mr Maduro and could become an asset to the president’s re-election campaign.

Another possibility is that Mr Maduro is play-acting: his regime plans to go through the motions of being prepared to take part in a real election, picking up some sanctions relief and legitimacy on the way, but ultimately will never submit itself to voters’ wishes.

Those who say that talks are always better than no talks point to some non-electoral issues where the two sides might agree for the benefit of ordinary Venezuelans. One is access to around $3bn of Venezuelan government assets, currently frozen in American and European banks. As the talks began in Mexico the two sides agreed to establish a United Nations-managed fund to finance health, food and education programmes for the poor, though details of how this will operate still need to be finalised.

An agreement on the format for elections is not expected to be settled in the first round of talks. But once an election is agreed upon, there remains the question of who will be the candidates. On the government side, Mr Maduro is expected to stand uncontested from within the ruling psuv party. On the opposition side, there are currently at least 20 candidates, including Mr Guaidó, on the shortlist. Originally there were more than 80. “That’s the trouble with the Venezuelan opposition: they all want to be president,” rues a diplomat in Caracas.

The precise timing of the election is also a matter for debate. While the constitution stipulates it should be held six years after the previous one—so, in 2024—some in the government, including Diosdado Cabello, the powerful former national assembly chief, have hinted recently at the possibility it might be held within months. Such a decision would be made by the electoral council, which the regime still controls.

This could be part of a tactic to flummox an opposition which has yet to organise itself. But it would also help Mr Maduro and his cronies. Despite the Biden administration’s less hostile stance, the myth that “Venezuela is fixed” may be about to unravel. Inflation, which reached 2,700,000% in January 2019, but was then tamed by the use of the dollar, is rising again, with the annual rate at 155%, the highest in Latin America. The value of the bolívar against the dollar also fell 17% in the first three weeks of November, with evidence that the central bank is running short of funds to prop it up.

For years the opposition, backed by the United States, has been calling for early presidential elections. Mr Maduro might be tempted to call its bluff, and go to the polls before the bubble bursts.

https://www.economist.com/the-americas/ ... -venezuela

[SuperiorMan]

Where my vene people at!

[timelapse]

What I want to see is their policy on foreign investment in Venezuela.Once a business starts to do well, historically they'd attempt to nationalize it.I hope they learn that this scares away investors.

[Mmoney607]

What the UNC have to say now? Boycott America?

[88sins]

What I want to see is their policy on foreign investment in Venezuela.Once a business starts to do well, historically they'd attempt to nationalize it.I hope they learn that this scares away investors.

No major business industry going to invest in that socialist hell hole.

[timelapse]

I open to investing there, provided they don't try to screw me over
They need SMEs I think.Easier to manage and can be community operated,just like the business minded few of them that here.They have unique stuff that have potential.Queso for example.Hand crafted guitars.Hats, leather shoes.List goes on

[Cantmis]

America lol

[88sins]

I open to investing there, provided they don't try to screw me over
They need SMEs I think.Easier to manage and can be community operated,just like the business minded few of them that here.They have unique stuff that have potential.Queso for example.Hand crafted guitars.Hats, leather shoes.List goes on

They won't screw you over, they gonna turn your business into their b!+ch and sodomize it, then if it survives to big enough take it from you in the national interest after they set it up so that it collapse.
Understand this

There's Venezuelans multi-millionaires that got out early and living in Europe and North America, and THEY not taking God out their thoughts to invest a USD lead cent in Venezuela. They putting their money in projects and investments everywhere except Venezuela.
You feel that is a accident or a coincidence or an intentional plan?

[timelapse]

Well they could take the help in their country,or get tf out of mine.Their choice

[88sins]

Well they could take the help in their country,or get tf out of mine.Their choice

They prefer the 3rd option


Live like a tapeworm in trinidad and let incels beg for people to tolerate them.

[Country_Bookie]

Let's hope our government is paying attention to these developments and we are able to start development of the Dragon gas fields that we share with Venezuela. If we can get production going there it'll give investors confidence in our ability to meet their demands for gas going forward..... especially those in point lisas.

[timelapse]

Let's hope our government is paying attention to these developments and we are able to start development of the Dragon gas fields that we share with Venezuela. If we can get production going there it'll give investors confidence in our ability to meet their demands for gas going forward..... especially those in point lisas.

Wait til they nationalize Trinidad if it profitable.

[88sins]

Let's hope our government is paying attention to these developments and we are able to start development of the Dragon gas fields that we share with Venezuela. If we can get production going there it'll give investors confidence in our ability to meet their demands for gas going forward..... especially those in point lisas.

Wait til they nationalize Trinidad if it profitable.

That would be the act of invasion and subsequently a physical manifestation of a declaration of war.
Want to or not, Nicholas and his lackeys ain't that stupid.


Don't get me wrong, yes, they dotish. But monkey know exactly what tree to climb.

[Country_Bookie]

Let's hope our government is paying attention to these developments and we are able to start development of the Dragon gas fields that we share with Venezuela. If we can get production going there it'll give investors confidence in our ability to meet their demands for gas going forward..... especially those in point lisas.

Wait til they nationalize Trinidad if it profitable.

They won't need to do that. We'll be paying Venezuela royalties for their share of the gas field. They don't have the capacity to develop it themselves. This quantity of gas can revive a lot of our industry that's dependent on receiving a guaranteed volume of gas.

Rowley, Maduro sign Dragon deal

CARLA BRIDGLAL SATURDAY 25 AUGUST 2018Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and a delegation arrive at the Simón Bolívar International Airport, Venezuela to finalise and sign the Dragon gas deal between both countries. PHOTO BY CARLA BRIDGLAL

The Dragon deal is official. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro shook hands today to seal the deal that will see TT for the first time processing Venezuelan natural gas.

“TT is an exporter and processor of natural gas and natural gas products. Venezuelan natural gas has never been an input in that business but after today, what we anticipate will happen is in the very near future, Venezuelan natural gas will come to market in the international market place and me monetized for the benefit of the people of TT and Venezuela,” Rowley said after the signing ceremony. The sky is the limit, he added, in terms of future cooperation between the two nations.

TT news reporters were not allowed to witness the signing nor ask questions about the event. Photographers and cameramen were, but could not ask questions.

Rowley thanked Maduro for allowing the deal, saying that whole it arrived a little later than anticipated, it’s “not too late to embark on this exciting journey.”

Rowley and a government delegation arrived in Caracas earlier today to sign the agreement with the Maduro administration that allows TT to process gas from the Dragon field.

The Rowley-led team, including a local press corps, left Trinidad at about 8 am before arriving in Caracas shortly after 10 am. The Prime Minister was greeted by representatives of the Venezuelan government. Apart from the Prime Minister, TT is represented by Energy Minister Franklin Khan, Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Alyson West and Sports Minister Shamfa Cudjoe, as well as National Gas Company (NGC) executives. Representatives from Shell— which has the rights to drill in the field— and officials from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA are also expected to attend today's signing. The signing was moved to Caracas because of concerns of of Tuesday's 6.9 earthquake.

In December 2016, Rowley had visited Venezuela, and along with the country's president, Maduro, signed an agreement that put the Dragon agreement in motion.

A special purpose vehicle between multinational energy giant Shell and the NGC has been created to lay down the infrastructure; Shell’s pipelines, including those in the North Coast Marine Acreage will be used to transport Dragon’s gas to the Hibiscus platform off the north-west coast of Trinidad and only 18 kilometres away from the gas field. Hibiscus is jointly owned by the TT government and Shell.

The first tranche of Dragon’s production will yield about 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd), or 26,505 barrel of oil equivalent per day (boed). For comparison, Petrotrin produces 43,000 barrels of oil per day and 130 mmscfd; bpTT’s Juniper well, which came on stream in the latter half of 2017, produces about 590 mmscfd.

The Dragon field is part of the Mariscal Sucre natural gas complex off the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, north west of Trinidad— and near the epicenter of Tuesday’s quake. Dragon is just one of the fields in a total acreage reserve of 14.7 trillion cubic feet of gas. Dragon alone contains 2.4 tcf.

[timelapse]

Never under estimate Trinidadians in selling out their country for a quick buck.We already losing the pitch lake and the ports.If the 33° Triangle fellas decided to go that way,who stopping them.
For that matter,there are tuners who'd sell the country for white panoche.

[MaxPower]

Well they could take the help in their country,or get tf out of mine.Their choice

Or they could just stay….their choice as well.

[timelapse]

Well they could take the help in their country,or get tf out of mine.Their choice

Or they could just stay….their choice as well.

The law says otherwise,educate yourself.The T&T constitution is available online for free.I not going to engage in an asinine back and forth on this thread as well with you and your fairytale fantasies in your head.Speak based on the truth and not your opinions.

[MaxPower]

Well they could take the help in their country,or get tf out of mine.Their choice

Or they could just stay….their choice as well.

The law says otherwise,educate yourself.The T&T constitution is available online for free.I not going to engage in an asinine back and forth on this thread as well with you and your fairytale fantasies in your head.Speak based on the truth and not your opinions.

Soldier,

The truth is the Venezuelans are here.

If you want to talk constitution then that also applies to all the laws you and your Trini countrymen continue to break with blatant delinquency.

Everything i say here is true, you are simply incapable of handling the truth and reality.

Embrace the Venezuelan wave as they settle in T&T.

[timelapse]

Well they could take the help in their country,or get tf out of mine.Their choice

Or they could just stay….their choice as well.

The law says otherwise,educate yourself.The T&T constitution is available online for free.I not going to engage in an asinine back and forth on this thread as well with you and your fairytale fantasies in your head.Speak based on the truth and not your opinions.

Soldier,

The truth is the Venezuelans are here.

If you want to talk constitution then that also applies to all the laws you and your Trini countrymen continue to break with blatant delinquency.

Everything i say here is true, you are simply incapable of handling the truth and reality.

Embrace the Venezuelan wave as they settle in T&T.

You sir are asking me to support something that is illegal,do you realize this?
Do you harbour illegal?
Any of your workers have work permits?

Shifting goalposts in this issue is not an option for you.Your petty attempts at garnering support for illegals have failed.

[MaxPower]

You sir are asking me to support something that is illegal,do you realize this?
Do you harbour illegal?
Any of your workers have work permits?

Shifting goalposts in this issue is not an option for you.Your petty attempts at garnering support for illegals have failed.

Calm down. No one is asking you or begging you to support anything. You made your choice as did many others of your countrymen…some in agreement with you and some not. You agree?

And no, i do not harbor illegal and yes all my workers have their documentation. I do know that we have many illegals among us, and due to their economic crisis back home, i have no issue with them being here. Btw how many of your Trini countrymen were harbored illegally in the U.S?

But sure, my petty attempts to garner support for illegals have failed, yet life goes on as normal for them in T&T? Who is really supporting our Venezuelans here? Padna wake up na, the people settling and many Trinis welcome it.

Write your MP and state your discomfort.

[88sins]

Max boy you doh tired make a ass of yourself daily on d ppl forum?

like allyuh vene wetfoot dotish fuh spite

[timelapse]

You sir are asking me to support something that is illegal,do you realize this?
Do you harbour illegal?
Any of your workers have work permits?

Shifting goalposts in this issue is not an option for you.Your petty attempts at garnering support for illegals have failed.

Calm down. No one is asking you or begging you to support anything. You made your choice as did many others of your countrymen…some in agreement with you and some not. You agree?

And no, i do not harbor illegal and yes all my workers have their documentation. I do know that we have many illegals among us, and due to their economic crisis back home, i have no issue with them being here. Btw how many of your Trini countrymen were harbored illegally in the U.S?

But sure, my petty attempts to garner support for illegals have failed, yet life goes on as normal for them in T&T? Who is really supporting our Venezuelans here? Padna wake up na, the people settling and many Trinis welcome it.

Write your MP and state your discomfort.

You sir are asking me to support something that is illegal,do you realize this?
Do you harbour illegal?
Any of your workers have work permits?

Shifting goalposts in this issue is not an option for you.Your petty attempts at garnering support for illegals have failed.

Calm down. No one is asking you or begging you to support anything. You made your choice as did many others of your countrymen…some in agreement with you and some not. You agree?

And no, i do not harbor illegal and yes all my workers have their documentation. I do know that we have many illegals among us, and due to their economic crisis back home, i have no issue with them being here. Btw how many of your Trini countrymen were harbored illegally in the U.S?

But sure, my petty attempts to garner support for illegals have failed, yet life goes on as normal for them in T&T? Who is really supporting our Venezuelans here? Padna wake up na, the people settling and many Trinis welcome it.

Write your MP and state your discomfort.

Do you realize that you cannot argue for illegal Venezuelans without attempting to compare it to something that your own country men are doing in America.That is a problem for the Americans.Its their country.
Completely and utterly irrelevant to defending illegals that are entering T&T.
Illegal Venezuelans hiding in and get deported from America all the time.So if you want to reference what Uncle Sam doing,be my guest .
Nice attempt at a deflect,but failure again.
Not all Venezuelans are settling nicely.
But all that isn't relevant to this thread in particular.
Their government is settling up, and trade agreements are said to be on the way.Are you going to Venezuela with them when they no longer have any excuse for being here?

[paid_influencer]

one day, when the sanctions are lifted, Trinis will flee to Venezuela.

[Country_Bookie]

one day, when the sanctions are lifted, Trinis will flee to Venezuela.

Yep. Late 80s and early 90s trinis used to go margarita and Caracas for weekends to shop. And not the 1% we talking about, I had relatives who were teachers and in the public service who was doing that. Guess it had black market for US even then because I think the only official way to get US was through Central bank.

[paid_influencer]

one day, when the sanctions are lifted, Trinis will flee to Venezuela.

Yep. Late 80s and early 90s trinis used to go margarita and Caracas for weekends to shop. And not the 1% we talking about, I had relatives who were teachers and in the public service who was doing that. Guess it had black market for US even then because I think the only official way to get US was through Central bank.

people was going Margarita for tourism and shopping all the time until the sanctions came in. we even had a school trip to margarita back then. Venezuela really is a beautiful country and lots of potential there once the political issues get sorted out. Check it out on google maps. You can even do as I sometimes do and load up Flight Simulator and pretend to fly to Venezuela.

[De Dragon]

Well they could take the help in their country,or get tf out of mine.Their choice

Or they could just stay….their choice as well.

The law says otherwise,educate yourself.The T&T constitution is available online for free.I not going to engage in an asinine back and forth on this thread as well with you and your fairytale fantasies in your head.Speak based on the truth and not your opinions.

Soldier,

The truth is the Venezuelans are here.

If you want to talk constitution then that also applies to all the laws you and your Trini countrymen continue to break with blatant delinquency.

Everything i say here is true, you are simply incapable of handling the truth and reality.

Embrace the Venezuelan wave as they settle in T&T.

Wait, either you are dotishly implying that Trinis are in their own country illegally or you are also dotishly engaging in the most vague form of whataboutism seen on this forum.

[MaxPower]

Wait, either you are dotishly implying that Trinis are in their own country illegally or you are also dotishly engaging in the most vague form of whataboutism seen on this forum.

Jeezus crice….whataboutism?

Damn never heard that one before.

I like it though Fago.