Parliament authorizes Guaido to use frozen regime funds

CARACAS: Venezuela´s opposition-controlled National Assembly on Thursday authorized its leader Juan Guaido to take control of around $80 million in assets frozen outside the country due to sanctions against President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido can now set up a trust overseen by the Organization of American States to take control of accounts blocked in the United States and belonging to the top Venezuelan regime figures and the state oil company, lawmaker Alfonso Marquina told AFP.

The law authorizing the move states that the cash should pay social expenses in the South American country, which is in the grip of a five-year recession that has seen millions of Venezuelans suffer shortages of basic necessities. More than four million people have fled the country due to the economic crisis, according to the United Nations.

The law aims to “strengthen international relations” and support a “transitional government” led by Guaido, the text said. Guaido launched a challenge to Maduro´s authority in January 2019 by using his position as parliamentary speaker to declare himself acting president. Parliament had branded Maduro a “usurper” over his controversial 2018 re-election in a poll widely denounced as rigged.