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Venezuelans with access to TV, internet and social media are incensed this morning, after seeing Alejandro Betancourt, for the first time on a nationwide broadcast, boasting about his "record-breaking" achievement in crude production: "...rompimos record de 115,000 barriles...todo constantemente rompiendo record..." In early June 2014, Hans Hertell (former U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic) was offering 75,000 barrels/day to oil traders in the spot market on behalf of Betancourt. It only took him over 12 years to bring Petrozamora's production from 75,000 to 115,000 barrels a day. And he is 100% correct: he is breaking all records, constantly, but not in oil production leagues.
A sense of sheer disgust is in the minds of each Venezuelan suffering power blackouts, something Betancourt was hired to fix. An illegitimate and universally hated chavista, acting as puppet of Marco Rubio and Mauricio Claver Carone, invited Betancourt to give an update on how things are progressing with NABEP, the Barbados shell controlled by Betancourt and Donald Trump's people that will revitalise Venezuela's derelict oil industry. Speaking of such people, Jared Kushner's phone was hacked by Russia's GRU and Dutch intelligence subsequently gained access to it, recording never disclosed transactions of more than $700 million:
The book claims that intelligence officers monitored Kushner accessing a Dubai bank account containing funds from Azerbaijan and allegedly transferring money to a warlord, a mercenary, and a former hit man.
Kushner has just one role in the Trump administration: bagman. That's precisely why "record-breaking" Betancourt was brought to Trump's table. Links to Nikolay Patrushev's people certainly provide the kind of bona fide Trump truly appreciates. The choice of Venezuelan partners was never a careless affair. With Maduro gone and his criminal structure intact and protected by the U.S., Trump Inc needed an operator that could seat with Kushner or any other special envoy to arrange particulars of payments, bribes, commissions, etc., and that operator could not have been anyone else but Betancourt.
Back in June 2014, when Betancourt's oil connection to Hertell was first reported, this site started further research into Petrozamora, how had it been formed, who were the partners, etc. Not long after, details of incorporation of Gazprombank Latin Amerika Ventures in Amsterdam emerged, revealing Russians from Gazprom and those of Betancourt's partner Francisco Convit and their Chief Financial Officer, Orlando Alvarado. Hertell and Alvarado had worked together, in something called White Bridge Capital.
Alvarado, a signatory to the NABEP deal according to ProPublica, is number 4 in a list of co-conspirators in a $1.2 billion money laundering scheme (2014) that DoJ sources leaked to this site in October 2018. Betancourt is number 2, and Convit was indicted, charged and put on the wanted list, where he has remained since. Now, fugitive Convit and Betancourt continue to be partners in several companies to this day, including Petrozamora. They all came together in Derwick Associates, the shell hired to solve power blackouts.
Over the years, Betancourt's mouthpieces have maintained that he's never been charged, but they have failed miserably at providing a single justification of Betancourt's enduring association with on-the-run Convit, who by the way must be about the only fugitive in the two most corrupt countries in the Western Hemisphere. When the scandal of Derwick Associates broke, Venezuela's justice system opened a criminal investigation. This was dismissed in circumstances that cannot possibly be considered without taking bribe payments into account. It became sort of vox populi around the time that Luisa Ortega Diaz, Venezuela's Attorney General between 2007-2017 and called auntie by the Derwick boys, ensured that no case against them would progress through the courts. But for a criminal case to be dismissed it has to be opened first, on the basis of sufficiently robust evidence that prompts initiating proceedings. In Venezuela, criminals just pay judges or the AG to have cases dismissed. In the U.S., criminals just hire Rudy Giuliani, dazzle Mauricio Claver Carone, pay Alina Habba, or get into deals with Donald Trump. In Spain, criminals just hire Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and try to bribe the Anti Corruption Officer... is the pattern clear enough?
But criminal activity of Betancourt's size is very difficult to keep off records, off courts and away from enquiring media, specially when it is as evident as an entire country going dark. When in a matter of months, billions of dollars get wired around the world without proper justification and compliance, even Swiss banks raise an eyebrow. It got so extreme that a little bank in Andorra processed proceeds of PDVSA's corruption and money laundering schemes that rivalled that country's GDP.
That's "record-breaking" Betancourt right there. The next record he is gonna have to break is to produce what his White House partner announced: "President Donald J. Trump has secured U.S. majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela". Note that Trump said "proven", but by who? When?
Thanks to Betancourt, NABEP's alleged production figures (220,000BPD) become a bit clearer. If Petrozamora produces 115,000BPD (?), Petrocedeño and Junin must be producing 105,000BPD. Like the big tale of Venezuela's "largest crude reserves", handle with care. As this site has always argued, taking chavistas at face value is something only an imbecile that waves to empty spaces would do. Venezuela does not have the world's largest oil reserves. No expert advice is required to know that, when the source of the -unverified and unverifiable- information was Hugo Chavez, Rafael Ramirez, Nicolas Maduro, Delcy and Jorge Rodriguez. And if anyone is suddenly willing to take chavista voices as gospel, there's a string of high ranking chavistas, starting from Jorge Rodriguez, that are on the public record saying unequivocally that Alejandro Betancourt is an absolute crook.
Considering mid terms on November 3, is that why the U.S. Consulate in London issued Betancourt with a one-year, multi-entry visa?
