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The US Senate, Ted Cruz, and six other lawmakers are calling on President Donald Trump to avoid a situation where he could get Houston oil company Citgo into Russia's hands.
The US Senate, Ted Cruz, and six other lawmakers are calling on President Donald Trump to avoid a situation where he could get Houston oil company Citgo into Russia's hands.
Photo: Eric Gay, STF / AP
The US Senate, Ted Cruz, and six other lawmakers are calling on President Donald Trump to avoid a situation where he could get Houston oil company Citgo into Russia's hands.
The US Senate, Ted Cruz, and six other lawmakers are calling on President Donald Trump to avoid a situation where he could get Houston oil company Citgo into Russia's hands.
Photo: Eric Gay, STF / AP
The US Senate, Ted Cruz, and six other lawmakers are asking President Donald Trump to avoid a situation in which he could get Houston oil company Citgo into Russia's hands.
In an attempt to unravel Venezuela's dictator Nicolas Maduro, the Trump administration imposed severe economic sanctions on the country and state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA).
The Venezuelan government, which uses Citgo as collateral, received a $ 1.5 billion loan from Rosneft in 2016. In addition to that, PDSVA will have to pay $ 99 million in bonds on October 28, when the Venezuelan company goes bankrupt, Cruz and others can trigger an event chain ending in Rosneft, which owns 49.9{7be40b84a6a43fc4fae13304fce9a2695859798abfc41afd127b9f8b21c5f9c5} of Citgo. There is.
"The potential for Rosneft to control US companies is a major threat and exposes critical infrastructure to national security threats," Cruz and others warned in a co-letter.
geopolitics: Houston firms tug of war in Venezuela
In their letter, Cruz and others are asking the Trump administration to clarify that the debt belongs to the Maduro regime and must be paid.
The Trump administration and dozens of other democrats recognized Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido as the president of a South American country in trouble. As part of that recognition, the Trump administration changed the leadership team this summer by giving Cuigo legal control to the former child.
Cruz and others are concerned that PDVSA will not pay to invade the islands.
"Since Citgo's control is transferred to the Juan Guaido government, we are concerned that Maduro has no incentives to pay additional bonds and can get political benefits by defaulting on bonds. Juan Guaido is responsible for Citgo's losses." Cruz and others wrote.
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Citgo owns and operates a refinery in Corpus Christi. Lake Louisiana and Illinois employ 5,300 people and supply gasoline and diesel to 4,900 gas stations across the United States.
Louisiana Senators Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy joining the cruise; Florida Senate Marco Rubio; Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins and Ralph Abraham — Texas State Assemblyman Liz Fletcher is a Democrat who includes Headquarters of Citgo in the Ridge Parkway in the West Houston area.
"We urge the administration to take all necessary steps to protect Citgo employees and retirees from default exposure," Cruz and others said.
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