A few days ago, Reuters reported that Libre Abordo, the Mexican shell company without a track record to speak of, which signed a “humanitarian food for oil agreement” with CORPOVEX from Venezuela, was “bankrupt.” Until the end of April, Libre Abordo and its subsidiary Schlager Business Group had lifted more than 26 million barrels of crude oil from PDVSA in about six months. On May 7, this site reported a meeting where representatives from Libre Abordo discussed the details of the first delivery of tanker trucks, which were part of the tanker truck/corn food agreement established between Libre Abordo and CORPOVEX. In summary, Libre Abordo delivered tanker trucks and supplies to CORPOVEX and paid them with crude oil that its subsidiary Schlager was extracting from PDVSA. There is no clarity on how the agreement between Schlager and PDVSA was structured, who signed it, etc. Similarly, it remains unclear how Libre Abordo covered its acquisition agreement with CORPOVEX, and at the time of writing this article, no one seems to know who they are. Creditors of Libre Abordo have since claimed that this shell company is supposedly facing “irreversible losses exceeding $90 million.” In any case, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that it would take the bankruptcy case of Libre Abordo to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. If there was any doubt about how integral Alex Saab’s “business activities” are to the regime of Nicolás Maduro, yesterday’s announcement sets the record straight.
In fact, this is unprecedented. A “Mexican concern” compels its client (Venezuela) to present a “bankruptcy” case before an international court in the Netherlands, which has jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. This site would like to challenge conventional wisdom concerning similar precedents. Additionally, consider that the UBO of a Mexican company is not just any legitimate businessman, but a fugitive wanted by the U.S. Department of Justice linked to known and convicted drug traffickers.
Why would Venezuela align itself with a supposedly contract-violating party? Both Libre Abordo and Venezuela were aware of Treasury sanctions before this entire charade began. How is it that neither party covered their positions against the likelihood of a breach of contract due to the sanctions? Who is pursuing Libre Abordo for payment? Who financed their agreements?
Libre Abordo’s statement does not even warrant serious consideration. Its domain was registered only last December. It claims that the company “has maintained over the years its intention to help the needy…” Where is the evidence of prior commitments in “humanitarian” agreements? It goes on to say that “hundreds of thousands of citizens in extreme poverty are receiving drinking water in their homes thanks to hundreds and hundreds of tanker trucks delivered to Venezuela…” The first delivery of 242 trucks took place on April 30, and they were seen in Caracas for the first time on May 2. By then, Libre Abordo had already lifted over 26 million barrels of crude oil. Once again, where is the evidence that millions of people are benefiting?
What does Andrés Manuel López Obrador have to say about this misrepresentation by Venezuela before the ICC of a Mexican company controlled by a criminal wanted by the Department of Justice?
In our opinion, this entire “bankruptcy” narrative is nothing more than a propaganda campaign orchestrated by the Venezuelan kleptocracy to continue poking the U.S. Treasury regarding its sanctions regime against chavismo. Drug cartels are never arrested unless their leaders are killed or imprisoned for life, which is not the case here. It is simply impossible to give credit to the parties involved, which tests the credibility of media outlets like Reuters and Bloomberg acting as public relations agencies for Alex Saab and Nicolás Maduro.
Libre Abordo has practically disappeared from PDVSA’s shipping programs. It only began to appear at the end of 2019, after which its subsidiary Schlager came into the picture, and both companies received shipments; then Schlager almost replaced Libre Abordo, and in May 2020, it also vanished.
The new players are Proton Sociedad Limitada and Delta Limited Liability Company. Curiously, Proton recently leased the vessel MT Respect (IMO 9331244), owned by NGM ENERGY S.A. We know of Respect due to a legal dispute in the UK between Elemento Ltd and Tansy Shiptrade Inc [Tansy Shiptrade Inc v Elemento Ltd [2020] EWHC 193 (Comm) (January 27, 2020)].
PDVSA is intentionally obscuring information from its SAP system. According to our sources, several recent business agreements have been made without paperwork, involving handshake deals/verbal agreements and direct participation from PDVSA/government personnel to avoid leaks. Traditional shipping agencies, insurers, shipping companies, etc., are being replaced by dubious operators willing to take risks.