González’s US Advisor: ‘Cancel Chevron’s Licenses’

(ANSA) – CARACAS, SEPTEMBER 16 – Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, the United Democratic Platform (PUD), has called on the United States to cancel the licenses that allow Chevron and other US energy companies to operate in the South American country. The appeal came from “Edmundo González Urrutia’s main political advisor,” according to NTN24 television, Rafael de la Cruz, who represented the PUD in the July 28 presidential elections in Venezuela. “We want them to be canceled: they are a lifeline for the regime,” De la Cruz said during a roundtable organized by the Council of the Americas (AS/COA), a US organization whose stated goal is to promote free trade and open markets throughout the Americas. “We want all the oil companies to go to Venezuela. So it’s not a question of companies, but the situation is impoverishing the country to such an extent that practically the entire population wants this regime to go away,” De la Cruz added, specifying that González’s campaign wants to “find common ground” with the oil companies but that their presence at this time gives Nicolas Maduro “the ability to normalize the de facto dictatorship that he is trying to establish in Venezuela.” (ANSA).