Guest: Venezuela Vice Minister Yvan Gil

Since 2017, the private Portuguese bank NovoBanco, 75% of which is owned by US private equity firm Lone Star, has withheld roughly $2 billion USD belonging to the Venezuelan state’s Economic and Social Development Bank (BANDES). BANDES is requesting that NovoBanco transfer roughly $25 million of the $2 billion directly to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to pay for emergency medical supplies for the people of Venezuela. These supplies include: polio vaccines, yellow fever medicine, and thousands of syringes to address a critical shortage in the country.

The government of Venezuela directed BANDES to apply for a transfer of funds from its accounts in NovoBanco to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) as of 22 July. These funds were temporarily frozen, but recently have been unblocked by Portuguese legal authorities. And, yet, Novo Banco has issued no response.

To talk more with us about this disturbing and criminal withholding of funds is Yvan Gil, Vice Minister for Europe of the People’s Power Ministry for Foreign Relations.