Venezuelan President Denounces Theft of Assets by US

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced the actions undertaken by the National Assembly (Parliament in contempt), which allows the theft of national assets in the United States.

During a meeting held on Wednesday to review the productive development tasks of Venezuela, the head of State condemned the appointment by the legislature, -with legal nullity since 2016-, of an alleged Venezuelan 'attorney' in the United States.

Maduro explained that Jose Hernandez, who was illegally appointed, worked as a lawyer for the transnational mining company Crystallex, an entity for which a federal judge issued on Wednesday the 'unusual decision' of seizing CITGO Petroleum, a subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA ) in US soil, to comply with pending payments of the Bolivarian government with the Canadian company.

The president also revealed that 'the servants of the stateless Venezuelan right' have debts estimated at more than US$400 million, which they handle as commissions of illegal actions with resources from the country.

Earlier, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said that Cristallex never held mining rights, legitimate titles or any property over Las Cristinas gold mine, one of the largest gold deposits in the continent.

Rodriguez pointed to the members of the Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) party, including legislator Juan Guaido -recognized by the United States and his allies as interim president- as accomplice in these illegal actions to appropriate the country's resources.