{"id":1197989,"date":"2020-07-26T13:29:03","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T18:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1030891"},"modified":"2020-07-26T13:29:03","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T18:29:03","slug":"venezuelas-interim-government-faces-a-number-of-challenges-in-the-crystallex-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1197989","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela\u2019s interim government faces a number of challenges in the Crystallex dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

A decision regarding Canadian miner Crystallex\u2019s request to sell the shares of PDV Holdings, the parent company of refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp<\/a>., which is owned by Venezuela, was expected by the end of July. Now it is likely to be made sometime in August.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This, after US Justice Department lawyers asked District Judge Leonard Stark in Delaware, where Citgo\u2019s parent is incorporated, not to bless Crystallex\u2019s request to sell the shares until US regulators finish examining the deal. <\/p>\n

Crystallex is aiming at collecting a $1.4-billion-award in compensation following a decade-long dispute<\/a> over Venezuela\u2019s 2008 nationalization of its gold mine in the southern Bol\u00edvar state. The amount is comprised of $1.2 billion, plus $200 million of interest awarded by a World Bank arbitration tribunal in 2016.<\/p>\n

But according to the Justice Department lawyers\u2019 filing, approving the share sale would harm US foreign policy and national-security interests in Venezuela<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a similar tone, Elliott Abrams, President Donald Trump\u2019s special representative to Venezuela, sent a letter to the Attorney General and the Justice Department stating that Crystallex cannot sell the shares without a license from the US Office of Foreign Asset Control. <\/p>\n

These moves back arguments by lawyers for Venezuelan interim president Juan Guaid\u00f3, whose team wants to honour the debts with Crystallex but opposes the sale of Citgo\u2019s assets to protect one of the country\u2019s main sources of hard currency.<\/p>\n

However, according to economist Francisco Rodr\u00edguez, founder of the think-tank Oil for Venezuela, the Guaid\u00f3 government has a steep hill to climb.<\/p>\n

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1. Para entender el peligro de p\u00e9rdida de CITGO ante los acreedores en procesos judiciales y la discusi\u00f3n sobre la responsabilidad de diversos actores p\u00fablicos en ella, es importante entender los detalles de los procesos judiciales en curso. Abro hilo explicativo.<\/p>\n

— Francisco Rodr\u00edguez (@frrodriguezc) July 11, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n