Arbitral Tribunal rules in favor of Paraguay and temporarily suspends PDVSA process

Within the framework of the International Arbitration initiated by PDVSA Petróleo SA against PETROPAR, processed under the arbitration rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Arbitral Tribunal made the request of Paraguay for a temporary suspension of the process. With this, the International Tribunal rules in favor of Paraguay, which ignores the Government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and legitimizes the authorities appointed by the President in Charge, Juan Guaidó. The announcement was made by the owner of Petropar, Patricia Samudio, after a meeting held with the head of state Mario Abdo Benítez, at the Government Palace.

On that date, the Petropar authorities reported on the decision in favor of Paraguay by the Arbitral Tribunal that made the request of our country to temporarily suspend the process of payment of debt to PDVSA.

Petropar had requested the Arbitral Tribunal to suspend the process temporarily, taking into account the current situation of PDVSA as a state company and the fact that it is under the control of the Nicolás Maduro regime (not recognized by the Republic of Paraguay). .

RECOGNIZE AUTHORITIES DESIGNATED BY JUAN GUAIDÓ

The Arbitral Tribunal, by means of a Procedural Order, has been issued favorably to Petropar's request, resolving to temporarily suspend the process, cancel the hearings on the merits of the dispute originally set for June 10-14, 2019 in the city of Paris , France, and declare that the Arbitral Tribunal, at its discretion, may resume the process when appropriate.

"We came from Petropar to inform the President of the Republic that the International Tribunal in the case of PDVSA recognizes the authorities designated by Juan Guaidó and puts on pause any type of negotiation with the tyrant government of Maduro," said the president of the state oil company , Patricia Samudio after meeting with the president in the Government Palace.

The high official said that this ruling is significant for Paraguay in response to the struggle it maintains in defense of democracy, especially in favor of the people of Venezuela.

"This is a victory for us, an acknowledgment of the struggle that Paraguay is pursuing in favor of democracy, and we are very happy because an International Tribunal is protecting both the Paraguayan people and the Venezuelan people, putting any kind of pause on hold. negotiation that can be carried out with a usurping government, with a tyrannical government, "he said.

PARAGUAY WILL PAY DEBTS ACCORDING TO CARACAS AGREEMENT

The ruling by the Arbitral Tribunal confirms Petropar's position in the process, which has held that it is not possible to make any payment to PDVSA while under the direction of the illegitimate regime of Nicolás Maduro, and opens the door to a negotiation between the States Paraguayan and Venezuelan for the payment of the Debt in a scenario in which democracy is reinstated in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Petropar maintains its commitment to timely honor the debt with PDVSA, in accordance with the conditions established in the Energy Cooperation Agreement of Caracas, signed by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Paraguay. This was reaffirmed by Iván Filartiga, Legal Adviser to the Presidency of Petropar.

"Paraguay recognizes the debt and always said at all times that it was going to honor it and that it was going to pay according to the Caracas Agreement." The government of Maduro, by tyrannical government, on a purely political level, began a lawsuit and demanded a debt that was not We were going to pay within the term of the agreement established by the Caracas Agreement, "he said.

He explained that Paraguay has the resources to pay interest.

"We are going to negotiate how we are going to do it, in what term, always respecting the international agreement, which is the Caracas Agreement, which is an international treaty that takes precedence over any momentary or opportunistic will," he said.

This Paraguay government release was published using machine translation.