The Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United States, Carlos Vecchio, set forth his position on the endless queues to refuel that millions of citizens are standing in all over Venezuela, affirming that these queues are a direct consequence of the destruction of the state oil company PDVSA and the sending of Venezuelan oil to the Cuban regime by Nicolás Maduro.
“Today Venezuelans are queuing endlessly for gasoline because Maduro destroyed PDVSA, which was once an example of world class management, and sends our oil to Cuba. Only during the first semester of this year the dictator sent US$348 million in crude oil to Cuba but in Venezuela citizens are arrested for protesting the corruption of the fuel mafias”, said Vecchio.
In July, the Venezuelan ambassador in Washington denounced with evidence that during the first half of 2020 Maduro sent to Cuba 33 tankers loaded with 13,147,000 barrels of oil, equivalent to an estimated $347,814,995.33.
“With those $348 million, at least 15 ships could have been imported with gasoline without the need for rationing, but within his strategy of social control, Maduro prefers to have the Venezuelans ‘busy’ queuing up to refuel, a gasoline that is also paid for by the citizens in dollars, at international prices, to which is added the payment of the corruption of the dictatorship’s mafias (police, military and other officials) who control said delivery and abuse the people’s needs. A crisis deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Vecchio insisted that “the logical thing is to reactivate the production of gasoline in Venezuela by means of key investments in the sector, not in Cuba, but it is clear that this attempts against all the transnational network of corruption established by Maduro and his collaborators, who use oil as a source of personal enrichment while the people suffer”. In Venezuela, over 9 million citizens are food insecure, 2.3 million of them severely food insecure according to UN figures.
He added, “this money is not received by Venezuelans, it is only received by the regime in Cuba and Diaz Canel, Nicolas Maduro and front men like Alex Saab, today detained in Cape Verde. There is nothing that the Cuban dictatorship can give us that compensates for the amount of oil and products that we send it. Cuba has only given in exchange support to Maduro’s regime in intelligence and repression for the oppression of millions of Venezuelans, to torture and violate human rights of both civilians and military.”
This Wednesday, Vecchio denounced that Maduro wants to use the electoral fraud that he is promoting for December 6th to get back the assets recovered and protected by the Interim Government of President Juan Guaidó, such as CITGO, and with this fraud continue embezzling Venezuela. Those who promote participation in said fraud also endorse the plundering of the nation.
He concluded, “only with the dismissal of the dictatorship and a National Emergency Government will the theft of Venezuela’s resources end and well-being and progress be reactivated.”
Hoy los venezolanos hacen interminables colas por gasolina porque Nicolás Maduro destruyó PDVSA, que otrora fue un ejemplo de gestión mundial, y envía nuestro petróleo a Cuba. pic.twitter.com/jIEJIyqBE9
— CARLOS VECCHIO (@carlosvecchio) September 10, 2020