Last week, Julio Borges, who serves as foreign minister for Venezuela's U.S.-backed interim government, said on Sunday he would leave his post, further weakening the opposition just weeks after it was routed in regional elections, Reuters reported. The interim government is not serving its purpose, Borges, whose differences with Guaido are well-known, said in an online news conference. "The (interim) government makes sense as an instrument to get out of the dictatorship. But at this moment, in our way of seeing it, the interim government has been damaged," Borges said. He is a member of the First Justice party, one of the four major opposition parties and part of Guaido's coalition in the national assembly.
Also last week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has dismissed as “spies” members of a European Union electoral observation mission sent to observe last week’s regional polls. Maduro, whose governing Socialist Party largely swept the gubernatorial and mayoral elections, said the EU observers sought to “stain the electoral process and they couldn’t”. “A delegation of spies – they weren’t observers – wandered freely around the country, spying on the country’s social, economic and political life,” Maduro said during a broadcast on state television, adding that the elections were “impeccable, beautiful”. The EU observers deployed to the country for the first time in 15 years as part of several concessions from Maduro’s government to encourage the participation of opposition candidates, who have boycotted all elections in the country since 2018 amid allegations of fraud and intimidation. European Union electoral monitors are being asked to leave Venezuela days before their scheduled departure, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told Bloomberg. According to the working schedule agreed with government officials, the team had planned to be in the country until December 13th. Analysts and staff members of the EU election observation mission (EUEOM) were denied visa extensions by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later received an order to leave the country from the foreign ministry and the National Electoral Council.
Also with regards to the the regional elections, last week, the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) ruled that Superlano, member of the opposition, would not be able to serve as governor because he is unable to hold public office, despite having won the regional election with 37.6% of the votes against the brother of former President Hugo Chávez.
Last but not least, the Guaidó-appointed Ad Hoc PDVSA board of directors hired Klein/Johnson Group, a lobbying firm established in Washington, DC, with the aim of "securing protections for PDV Holding (PDVH) and its subsidiaries." A foreign agent registration filed on November 30 establishes that the company will help PDVH "engage with and advocate before the federal government on issues relating to challenges brought by creditors of the Maduro regime that threaten PDVH's continued ownership of its subsidiaries and the durability of PDVH's relationship with its shareholders." The scope of the service includes lobbying for key members of the executive and legislative branches, informational and educational meetings, and monitoring of legislative and regulatory developments. Before this, PDVH registered on November 22 a contract with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP to represent PDVH in "discussions with Congress and the Executive Branch of the US government relating to issues affecting the ownership of the CITGO entities." The Office of Foreign Assets Control's General License 5H that protects CITGO from its creditors expires on January 21, 2022. |
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