Picture the following: in recent visit to Washington, I proposed to Pedro Burelli -for many years esteemed friend- that, given that Juan Guaidó's interim administration was looking to recoup lost funds to help with Venezuela's reconstruction, legal counsel of PDVSA in Geneva lawsuit against Helsinge, Trafigura, Glencore, Lukoil, Vitol et al ought to be replaced. Reason is simple: current one (Canonica) came to it thanks to Wilmer Ruperti.

What's the point of imposing a sanctions regime against wretched Nicolas Maduro and leaving the back door open? This is a pertinent question in our opinion. Venezuela / PDVSA can not issue any more debt as per Executive  Order  13808 of August 24, 2017.

The U.S. Treasury Department finally included PDVSA in its sanctions regime against Nicolas Maduro's kleptocracy. The ratcheting up came after the Trump administration recognised Juan Guaidó as interim President of Venezuela. Today, Germany, France, UK, Spain, Austria and Sweden announced their respective recognition of Guaidó, given Maduro's failure to seek a meaningful solution: i.e. call for free and transparent elections.