Venezuela's Maduro Accuses Opposition Leader Guaido Of Stealing Citgo Oil Refiner

MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd May, 2019) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused opposition leader Juan Guaido of stealing US-based Venezuelan oil refiner Citgo, which is owned by the state-run PDVSA company.

PDVSA's assets worth $7 billion were blocked by the United States amid the political crisis in Venezuela in January, when Guaido proclaimed himself the country's interim president and was immediately endorsed by Washington and a number of US allies. The opposition subsequently appointed the new members of the two companies' boards of directors. PDVSA called the move an attempt to steal the wealth of Venezuelans.

"Mr. Juan Guaido, acting together with imperialism, has stolen Citgo from us. And I am asking, what have they done with the money? Where is the Citgo money? They have stolen the Citgo money from us. And the products meant for our oil refiner were stolen from us, too," Maduro said live on Periscope on Wednesday.

Guaido proclaimed himself an interim president in a bid to dispute Maduro's re-election in May 2018.

However, Maduro was endorsed as the only legitimate president of Venezuela by China, Russian and a number of other countries.