The Venezuelan opposition led by Joan Guaidó has criticized this Friday that the government has had to sell its shares in the Dominican Oil Refinery (Refidomsa) for $ 42.9 million less than what was paid when it was acquired, to be able to cancel your debt.
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA had bought 49% of Refidomsa’s shares in 2010 for $ 131 million, sold 11 years later to the government of the Dominican Republic – which now controls the company’s total – for 88,100,000 dollars.
According to former opposition MP Carlos Valero, this sale is a consequence of “the corruption of the regime of (President Nicolás) Maduro”, who has been forced to make “a change for his good defaults”, due to the his opinion, of mismanagement.
“They did not sell it to buy food or medicine but to pay bondholders (…) Those who accuse others of treason in the homeland are the same ones who deliver the nation’s goods,” Valero wrote on Twitter.
On Thursday, Venezuelan Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami described the sale as “successful,” despite the nearly $ 43 million difference between the purchase price and the sale price more than a decade later. to consider that, thanks to the transaction “the solvency and responsibility” of the Executive is proven.
“The Bolivarian Government of Venezuela and PDVSA have successfully concluded the Refidomsa negotiation, and this honors the financial commitments made with creditors, highlighting our solvency and responsibility, despite the criminal blockade of the United States,” El Aissami wrote in Twitter.
In a statement shared by El Aisammi on the same social network, he added that the transfer of Refidomsa shares is “in exchange for the receipt of international debt denominated in foreign currency, issued by PDVSA and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
The text says that “as a result of this transaction, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and PDVSA manage to reduce their external public debt, and the Dominican State becomes Refidomsa’s sole shareholder.”
According to the document, “the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States Government of North America prevented, for the first time in history, Venezuela and PDVSA from fulfilling the financial commitments made with many of their creditors.”
Previously, the Dominican Minister of Finance, José Manuel Vicente, said in a press conference that the transaction was carried out for an “advantageous” price for the Dominican Republic.
Vicente stressed that before completing the purchase operation, the Dominican Government consulted with the United States to ensure that the transaction did not present any “inconveniences” for the country, because the North American Administration American maintains sanctions against the South American country.