Top Citgo executives removed amid battle to control firm
(Reuters) - Citgo Petroleum Corp has removed at least three top executives close to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, people familiar with the matter said, in a move to cement management control under a new board of directors.
The U.S. refining arm of Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA has been thrust in recent weeks into the center of a political battle between an opposition leader and self-declared president backed by many Western nations, including the United States, and Maduro, a socialist whose re-election last year they consider illegitimate.
Monday’s departures appeared to shift control of Citgo’s day-to-day operations to officials expected to recognize a new board of directors appointed last week by the opposition-controlled
It was not immediately clear if the executives were fired, forced to resign or if they retired.
Chavez, a cousin of late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, has been running Citgo from the Bahamas since last year as the U.S. government denied his visa petition to work from Houston. Other Venezuelan members of the oil refiner’s board are also working with him from the Caribbean office
The company has been hurt by U.S. sanctions imposed on Jan. 28 to curtail Maduro’s access to oil revenue. Citgo, the largest U.S. buyer of Venezuelan crude, can continue importing PDVSA’s oil only if the sale proceeds go to banks accounts controlled by
Citgo’s new board of directors is led by Venezuelan Luisa Palacios, four veteran oil executives and current Vice President of Strategy and Compliance Rick Esser. The new members have yet to take office in Houston.
A fourth top Citgo official, General Auditor Eladio Perez, also was removed from his office on Monday, according to one of the people
Escalona, Suarez
A Citgo unit on the Caribbean island of
Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City and Gary McWilliams in Houston; Editing by Peter Cooney
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