Related: Dangote Breaks Ground on 700,000-Bpd Second Crude Processing Unit<\/a><\/p>\nResolving this crisis, by restructuring the debt to allow Venezuela to repay what it owes as its oil industry recovers, is fundamentally in America\u2019s economic interest. But that recovery can only happen if the debt restructuring has a credible path forward.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a complex situation.<\/p>\n
For a negotiation this difficult, and this vital for American energy and businesses, the people leading it, at least in the eyes of the Trump administration, must be guided by American priorities. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Pigasse is no friend to President Trump\u2019s America First movement \u2013 in fact, he is fundamentally opposed to it. He is a long-term supporter of the French Socialist Party and has been criticized over claims that his media companies have shared antisemitic content.<\/p>\n
His history in Venezuela makes his involvement in negotiations even more concerning. Pigasse served as an economic adviser to Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, whose socialist economic programme destroyed the country\u2019s oil industry and created the very debt crisis that now requires a solution.<\/p>\n
And yet, without any competitive selection process or request for proposals, Pigasse is now the man positioned to lead that restructuring.<\/p>\n
The question, then, is how Pigasse ended up in a position of such influence. The answer is Mauricio Claver-Carone.<\/p>\n
Claver-Carone is a Floridian lawyer who briefly served as President Trump\u2019s special envoy to Latin America. He no longer holds that role, or any other government position. Claver-Carone now runs a private equity company, LARA Fund, with his partner Jessica Bedoya \u2013 who worked at both the CIA and the National Security Council. The fund invests heavily in Latin America.<\/p>\n
Claver-Carone is operating at the very centre of US policy in Venezuela. The Washington Post recently described him as the \u2018unofficial US viceroy of Venezuela\u2019 and revealed that he has been relaying messages between Caracas and Washington.<\/p>\n
What the Post did not explore is what Claver-Carone has chosen to do with this unofficial power.<\/p>\n
It is Claver-Carone, without a mandate, who has put Pigasse forward for this role.<\/p>\n
Pigasse\u2019s approach to the debt crisis is also controversial. He is expected to push for a rapid resolution \u2013 a fast deal to give the impression that the process is moving forward.<\/p>\n
But in a debt crisis of this size, speed is less important than ensuring investors get what they are owed. American companies like Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Management and ConocoPhillips stand to lose billions if the process is rushed.<\/p>\n
A successful debt restructuring is not just good for Venezuela – it is good for American consumers. A Venezuela that is able to pump oil is one that helps keep fuel prices low for ordinary Americans.<\/p>\n
That Claver-Carone has used his unofficial influence to place such a controversial operator like Pigasse at the heart of this process is a serious failure in oversight by administration officials.<\/p>\n
President Trump, bogged down in Iran, may not yet have a clear picture of how far Claver-Carone\u2019s influence has spread. He should be made aware.<\/p>\n
America First, regardless of its merits, was a promise to put the interests of the American people at the front of the line. What is quietly taking shape in our Venezuela policy is arguably the opposite.<\/p>\n
By Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com<\/p>\n
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com<\/p>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the US removed Nicol\u00e1s\u00a0Maduro from power in Venezuela, the expectation was collapse. It has not come. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,3055,65068,188167,101,3479,25,18232],"class_list":["post-685064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-debt","tag-debt-restructuring","tag-delcy-rodriguez","tag-economy","tag-trump","tag-us","tag-venezuela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}