Reuters reports that Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has hired Cleary Gottlieb, a Washington law firm skilled in debt negotiations, to help him on the path he hopes will bring him to power. The most immediate task for a potential restructuring is protecting Citgo, a U.S. refiner owned by PDVSA [Venezuela’s state-owned oil company]. The...
Category: Venezuela
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Inside SEBIN, Venezuela’s Powerful Intelligence Agency
At the heart of the struggle for power in Venezuela is SEBIN, the country’s premier security service. In late April, the United States hoped the defection of SEBIN director general Manuel Christopher Figuera would set up a popular uprising to oust embattled president Nicholas Maduro. That didn’t happen. SEBIN’s role, for better or worse, remains...
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U.S. De-Sanctions Renegade Venezuelan Spy Chief; Maduro Says He Worked for CIA
The U.S. government imposes economic sanctions is to punish perceived enemies of the United States. Washington also removes those sanctions to lure those enemies to embrace the United States. Case in point: Manuel Christopher Figuera, former director general of the Venezuelan intelligence service, known as SEBIN. According to the Washington Post, Figuera played a central...
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Venezuela’s Descent: From Shopping Mall to Torture Prison
El Helicoide, The Helix, is part of the DNA of Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. Dreamed up by three architects in the 1950s, El Helicoide was supposed to be a drive-through shopping mall for the country’s aspiring petro-oligarchy. Built on a hill in the heart of Caracas, the dramatic ocean liner-like edifice “embodied Venezuela’s...
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Trump Unhappy With Bolton As Maduro Cracks Down in Venezuela
President Trump has reportedly told aides he’s unhappy with National Security Adviser John Bolton in the wake of last week’s failed opposition uprising in Venezuela. According to the Washington Post. Trump has said in recent days that Bolton wants to get him “into a war” — a comment that he has made in jest in...