The more I think about the rocky path to date for KRY to collect its $1.4 award, the more puzzling this long saga becomes. There are some many contradictions that no rational person can dismiss them as the result of unfortuitous or happenstance events. Here is the biggest one: VENEZUELA DOES NOT HAVE THE MEANS TO PAY THE AWARD

Nowadays, the most frequent argument by Venezuela for not paying the award is that it lacks the financial means to deal with the social and economic crisis is going through, let alone to meet its debt obligations. This is already an improvement from the main previous argument: the FSIA precluded the collection through the sale of the CITGO shares. Yet, this position is as false as a $1,000,000,000.00 dollar bill with President Trump’s Schwarzenegger-like picture on it. This, specially given our tradition of putting pictures of dead presidents on our bills.   

To begin with, why the U.S. Government does not provide to Venezuela loans and loan guarantees to help the country, if it really wants to help? President Clinton helped Mexico with $20 billion in loans and loans guarantees to help Mexico resolve its Peso crisis; and encourage the private finance sector to add another $29 billion to the financial aid package. This was done through an Executive Order and did not require approval by Congress.

Then, there are the billions of dollars in funds stashed away in U.S. and European financial institutions as a result of the USA and EU sanctions on the Maduro government and its corrupt leaders. A few examples…

·         The billions of USD in accounts receivable for oil sales in the U.S. when the sanctions were imposed. Crude oil sales generally have a 30-day from Bill of Lading payment term. Crude oil sales to U.S.  buyers were in excess of $20 billion a year, roughly $2 billion per month.

·         The billions recovered from corrupt Venezuelan government officials in the U.S. Two examples here:

o   $1.3 billion recovered from the former Venezuelan Treasurer, Alejandro Alvarado (currently serving a prison sentence in FL) through a FL court order,

o   $1.0+ billion recovered from a PDVSA contractor (currently serving a prison sentence in TX) through a TX court order,

·         The $1.2 billion in gold bullion held by the Bank of England,

·         The $1.2 billion in frozen funds held by the Portuguese Bank Novo Banco (75% owned by the U.S. private equity firm Lone Star Funds),

·         The hundreds of millions of dollars of Venezuelan government and corrupt officials’ funds blocked by the Andorran, Swiss, Spanish and other EU governments,

… just to name a few.

So, billions of dollars hiding in plain sight and no one is pursuing these; not even the Guaido Government. What’s going on here?

If the U.S. and the EU Governments truly recognize the Guaido Government as the legitimate Venezuelan government - as argued at and acknowledged by the U.S. Courts, why …

1.       Guaido is not asking the governments involved to authorize the financial institutions holding the blocked funds (OFAC / the U.S. Government does not hold the funds (banks do and are required to report to OFAC periodically all the frozen funds in their custody)?

2.       is the U.S. Government lending itself to help the Venezuelan Government avoid its obligations not only to its creditors, but even worse, to the Venezuelan people that are suffering a humanitarian crisis created by the Maduro government and now ignored by the Guaido government that has forced over four million people to seek help in other countries to survive; and the remaining 28 million Venezuelans staying home to suffer malnutrition, lack of even basic health care, and unschooled children for lack of teachers and funds to buy books and food to feed them? The New York times has published articles on this that makes one wonder how it is possible for humanity to allow politicians to use their own people as pawns in pursuit of the political and personal objectives of megalomaniacs.

Officials from the Guaido government often cite the fact that the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis is second only to the Syrian crisis, but that the help provided by the U.N. and foreign governments is only a small fraction of that provided to the Syrian people. It is self-evident that they never learned that charity begins at home.

The Guaido government has lost most of the rallying power it had at the beginning of this year once people realized that it is all talk and no action; “pura paja” (all chaff, no wheat), as the Venezuelan say. It is one big mouth with no teeth.

Again, what’s going on here?

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.

Frederick Douglass

Ironically, this is how Hugo Chavez came to power. The rest is history.