The investigation revolves around an operation carried out by the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and a series of political meetings that took place in Madrid in January 2020.
According to the documentation incorporated into the case, the central episode involves the then vice-president of the regime, Delcy Rodríguez, and the then Spanish minister José Luis Ábalos, who allegedly held a meeting at Barajas airport.
According to the judicial proceedings, at that meeting, the possibility of making available six million barrels of PDVSA crude oil was discussed, in a transaction valued at approximately 250 million dollars.
Pedro Sánchez and Nicolás Maduro.
Research suggests that these resources could have had a political destination, including funding from the USSR and the SocialistInternational
.
The case
The case is part of the case known as the “hydrocarbons case”, in which businessman Víctor de Aldama testified before the Spanish courts that he had received documentation from PDVSA related to these events. According to his testimony, it would be an “envelope” given by Rodríguez that would contain relevant information about
the operation.
Among the documents provided is a certificate dated February 4, 2020, detailing the supply of Boscan-type crude oil with an availability period of 45 days.
The temporary proximity to the Venezuelan official's visit to Spain is considered by researchers as an element that reinforces the fact that the meeting had direct consequences.
Delcy Rodriguez and Pedro Sanchez.
In addition, the case analyzes a financial movement that could constitute an advance on the transaction. This is a transfer of approximately 5 million euros to an account in Russia, which, according to the researchers, would indicate that the negotiation did not remain in a preliminary phase, but that it progressed partially
.
The meeting in Barajas, which took place on January 20, 2020, had already generated controversy at the time because Rodríguez was banned from entering theSchengen area due to European Union sanctions. Consultant Koldo García and Aldama himself also participated in that meeting, figures who today appear under
judicial scrutiny.
The research also focuses on Venezuelan businessman Francisco Enrique Flores Suárez, identified as a key player in the structure. The authorities are analyzing whether he would have acted as an intermediary or front man in the operation aimed at channeling oil funds
