US-owned firms appear to help Venezuela avoid US sanctions

By JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — The Associated Press has learned that a company with an office in Houston and another owned by two American citizens appear to be helping Venezuela bypass U.S. sanctions. The sanctions evasion effort is centered around an idled oil terminal on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao that until 2019 was a major shipping hub for Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. On Sept. 28, the Iranian-built tanker Colon discharged 600,000 barrels of fuel oil at a terminal operated by Curacao’s state-owned refining company in partnership with an American-owned firm. Ship tracking data shows the oil came from Venezuela. U.S. sanctions aimed at forcing President Nicolás Maduro from power prohibit Americans from doing business with Venezuela’s state oil company.