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US Asks Mexico for Help to Investigate Oil-for-food Pact with Venezuela

Reuters

   MEXICO CITY - The U.S. State Department, the Treasury Department and
   the U.S. Embassy in Mexico are investigating at least two Mexican firms
   involved in an oil-for-food pact signed in 2019 with Venezuela's
   government, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

   Mexico-based LibreAbordoand an affiliated company, Schlager Business
   Group, have since late 2019 taken millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil
   for resale in Asia in exchange for corn and water trucks provided to
   Venezuela.

   The deal has thrown a lifeline to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
   as Washington tightens punitive measures against his administration as
   part of a "maximum-pressure" strategy to oust him after critics decried
   his 2018 re-election as a sham.

   Because the agreement was signed in mid-2019 after U.S. sanctions were
   imposed on Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, the United States
   is asking Mexico's government for help on the probe, according to the
   officials.

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