...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeds places like Honduras and El Salvador, and a significant proportion of the populace as refugeed to Colombia and points south...for more than two years were suddenly moved from house arrest into prison on Wednesday night, just hours after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó
...Venezuelan politician, a member of the social-democratic Popular Will party, and serves as a federal deputy to the National Assembly representing the state of Vargas. In 2019 he was appointed by the Popular Will party to become the president of the National Assembly, after which he declared he was acting president of the country, challenging Nicolás Maduro's presidency and starting the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis....
met with US President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
The "CITGO 6" -- Tomeu Vadell, Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano and Jose Angel Pereira -- were taken by the Maduro regime's intelligence services from their separate house arrest locations, according to several family members, Vadell's legal team, and the State Department. According to the legal team, they were removed "without warnings or judicial order" and are being held together in the same cell at El Heliocoide prison, even though "the house arrest has not been revoked by the appropriate court."
"Lawyers and relatives were not informed, and the only information shared by the SEBIN officials on duty was that [they were taken away] 'for medical checks,'" the lawyers' statement said referring to the Venezuelan intelligence service.
Related:
Citgo: 2020-02-06 Venezuela rounds up US oil executives as Guaidó visits DC
Citgo: 2019-08-07 John Bolton unveils historic asset freeze on Venezuela's Maduro regime
Citgo: 2019-04-03 Pence calls on Venezuela to release Citgo executives
Citgo: 2020-02-06 Venezuela rounds up US oil executives as Guaidó visits DC
Citgo: 2019-08-07 John Bolton unveils historic asset freeze on Venezuela's Maduro regime
Citgo: 2019-04-03 Pence calls on Venezuela to release Citgo executives
| From the February 6th article: |
The group flew out on a corporate jet. They included Tomeu Vadell, vice president of refining; Gustavo Cardenas, head of strategic shareholder relations as well as government and public affairs; Jorge Toledo, vice president of supply and marketing; Alirio Zambrano, vice president and general manager of Citgo's Corpus Christi refinery; Jose Luis Zambrano, vice president of shared services; and Jose Angel Pereira, the president of Citgo.
The men are awaiting trial on corruption charges stemming from a never executed plan to refinance some $4 billion in Citgo bonds by offering a 50% stake in the company as collateral.