President Maduro: Venezuela is part of the world’s energy equation

Caracas._The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, referred to the request from the Negotiating Table between the Government and the opposition, for the complete lifting of the coercive and unilateral measures imposed by the United States against Venezuela.

During the press conference held on Wednesday, November 30, the President assured that the licenses granted to CITGO, granted by the United States Government, "They are going in the right direction, but they are not enough for what Venezuela demands, which is the complete lifting of all sanctions and measures on the national oil industry," he said.

"Venezuela has the right to economic and production freedom, an attempt is made to mount a neocolonial model on us, where a foreign country executes sanctions and tells the rest of the world that another country cannot sell or produce oil," President Maduro reflected.

He recalled that in the coming days, the Minister of Popular Oil Power, Mr. Tareck El Aissami, will proceed to sign all operating contracts with the Chevron company, within the framework of Venezuelan legislation and the Constitution, which will be very positive for the Nation, is a win-win," he said.

President Maduro then recalled that the current creditors of CITGO are illegitimate: "it is a scam that has been done because we are its original owners; PDVSA owns CITGO and its dividends belong to our country," he said.

"Taking the company away from us and taking Venezuela out of the world’s energy circuit was a terrible, extremist idea of Donald Trump, and they are paying for it, because Venezuela has the largest reserve in the world and the 4th gas reserve. They cannot take us out, sooner or later we will be an oil and petrochemical power," the Head of State added.

"Our oil is not an ideological-political issue, it is a free resource, we produce it and sell it to those who need it, not to those who think like us; yes, at fair prices based on contracts that respect our legislation," said the President.

He insisted on advancing a new economy, not oil "is the great lesson, after these 8 years of suffering, of sanctions. We must generate wealth in dollars, yuan and any currency. We have recovered, but we still have wounds that do damage, we drive the 18 economic engines," he said.