now the citgo cash is cut off. how long, russ, until pdvsa and thus the maduro regime is simply out of money with which to buy off the military which supports them >> that's part of the strategy you hit the nail on the head they're trying to starve the regime of cash so that the mafia families sitting around the table running that country from the military and the others will be forced to turn on each other and say, oh, i can do a better job than you i should be running this you get your fair share. you get your fair share and solve it the way mafia families often do and make it easy for us to resolve this difference. >> there have been calls including one this morning from spain they need to hold a new presidential election. a real one asap. do you think there's any chance that's going to happen >> yes is the short answer it will eventually, not under maduro, though by the way, sweden has also joined in and that's also important because pdvsa has a smaller refinery in sweden which also has bonds outstanding but, t

decision to sanction venezuelans oil assets two weeks ago was a move designed to keep citgo revenues out of president nicolas maduro as hands this was his response of the time. i see the transatlantic of united states today decided to take the party to steal citgo from venezuela and that's an illegal path i gave instructions to the president of. a owner of citgo to start with political and legal actions in the american courts and around the world to defend the property and the riches of said god well joining me now from london is dara mcdowell is the head of europe research and principal analyst on russia at the risk analysis company various maple crafts good to have you with us let's talk a little bit about citgo because that's a major earner of course for the country if the u.s. is successful in supporting those attempt to try and take over the management board of citgo what happens to the money does that mean that wedo will have the power to distribute the oil revenues to the people because he's in a bit of a bind isn't he him selfe one of the issues surrounding that is that we ha

vs a and in citgo through collateralized debt. how much of a card then does russia have to play in the struggle over the management board of sit naturally of course that you know if the there is a change of leadership in venezuela and wider takes over what there will be potentially some sort of claim to dismiss a lot of the obligations made under chavez image of madeira as illegitimate or are this sort of thing russia will naturally fight that legally. again the question of which claim will actually add in the end is something that will take a long time to resolve through international institutions but this shows the kind of spoiler role that russia can play in the country at the moment it's only doesn't really have the hath or the resources to save major at the moment or two to really stabilize the situation in venezuela but it has enough of an interest that it can make any sort of transition difficult and that's the card that moscow is probably looking to play over the coming weeks and i guess who plays the spoiler role is a mat

decision to sanction venezuelans oil assets two weeks ago was a move designed to keep citgo revenues out of president nicolas maduro as hands this was his response of the time. i see the transatlantic united states today decided to take the party to steal citgo from venezuela and that's an illegal path i gave instructions to the president of. a owner of citgo to start with political and legal actions in the american courts and around the world to defend the property and the riches of said god well joining me now from london is dara mcdowell is the head of europe research and principal analyst on russia at the risk analysis company various maple crafts good to have you with us let's talk a little bit about citgo because that's a major earner of course for the country if the u.s. is successful in supporting those attempt to try and take over the management board of citgo what happens to the money does that mean that wedo will have the power to distribute the oil revenues to the people because he's in a bit of a bind isn't he him selfe one of the issues surrounding that is that we have

oil refiner citgo. remember, citgo, a name you all know, is owned by venezuelan state-run giant paravesa replacing citgo's board could cut off a crucial fund to the maduro regime. the united states imposed new sanctions on pervesa requiring all american companies who deal with them to keep their money in an escrow account controlled by the government until maduro is no longer in power, but there's a lot of oil already out there who is taking or thinking about taking venezuelan oil, and where is it right now? i want to give thanks to the data firm ridinitiv because they gave us data on where venezuelan oil is right now in all since january 26 when the sanctions went in order, 19 ships have been loaded with venezuelan crude oil these are huge tankers now, of those ships, seven were chartered to go to the united states 4.5 million barrels of oil two on their way to india with 3.5 million. these are the vlcc's very large crude carries you have six going to latin america and the caribbean. two are going to e

and citgo could file for bankruptcy in the next couple of days >> how many workers in citgo >> a few thousand. and at their headquarters in houston. >> we'll continue to follow that i want to talk as well about bill gross he has announced again this morning that he is retiring. this ends a four-decade career he started, of course, and came to fame and was named fund manager of the decade in 2010 at pimco, this was by morning star. he left, he retired once, he went to janice he was supposed to build up their whole operation. as we know, the assets -- you know, he put in about $700 million of his own money they initially raised a bunch for his fund the fund underperformed last year, investors fled, and you think he's really done this time >> he's not done trading, because his family fund. him with his son and daughter, they'll run the family office. he's giving away $800 million. one of the biggest donors in the united states. listen, we know, you've worked in the media for a long time in the media, we have the attention span of a pigeon, right? you swat at a pigeon, they come right ba

it owns more than 50% of citgo and has held that position since the mid-80s. citgo is one of the world's largest refiners and operates more than 5,000 locally owned gas stations. at the same time it is venezuela's largest foreign asset, and the cash it's generated has helped prop up the regime. in its efforts to bring down maduro, the u.s. slapped sanctions against pdvsa. and moved to transfer citgo ownership to juan guaido. >> control to the interim president or a subsequent democratically elected government who is committed to taking concrete and meaningful actions to combat corruption. >> reporter: the measures would freeze all u.s. money that flows to citgo, a huge blow to venezuela whose oil holdings are its main source of revenue. president nicolas maduro calls the u.s. actions against the law. >> translator: with these measures they intend to rob citgo from all venezuelan men and women, red alert, venezuela. it is an illegal path. >> reporter: reports suggest citgo may file for bankruptcy to protect its operations. although the company officially denies

subsidiary citgo petroleum corporation citgo is facing financial and mismanagement challenges following u.s. sanctions imposed on pay divest last week the move is intended to prevent oil revenue from going to president the douro venezuela's self-proclaimed president is setting up bank accounts with the u.s. debt. that would essentially take income accrued by citgo to finance an interim government. so let's go now to tereza both who is in the venezuelan capital caracas first of all you have a u.s. shipment of a that is just sitting on the border with colombia doing nothing what is the opposition's plan because clearly it can't just sit there forever well that's the big question is how to get aid into the country in a subject that has become.

subsidiary citgo petroleum corporation citgo is facing financial and management challenges after u.s. sanctions imposed on pet a vessel last week move is intended to prevent oil revenue from going to present the doura venezuela self-proclaimed president one white go is setting up bank accounts with u.s. help that would take income accrued by citgo to finance an interim government to raise a bow as more from the venezuelan capital caracas while humanitarian aid is supposed to be started arriving to the border between venezuela and colombia also it is expected to start arriving two other entering points for example between the border between venezuela and brazil what we know that happened there for example is that the voice of aryan national guard tried to carry out a checkpoint in order to prevent that from pulling that aid from coming in and indigenous communities from that area carried out another check point in order for them to counter the presence there and allow aid into the country and this is a ball of tile if you look through. nation in venezuela a country that's desperately n

you know, citgo was founded in the u.s. in 1910, back in oklahoma. it was taken over by venezuela, bought by venezuela, completely in 1990, but then the assets as we pointed out, were squandered and mismanagement and i guess all around poor control, and so those expensive oil reserves have in some ways gone wanting. now in charge, theoretically, of citgo is a man named asdrubel chavez, the cousin of hugo chavez. he, however, has not been granted the ability to come back in on a tourist visa to the country so he's kind of out of the picture. now the other three executives, as you point out, have been marched out of the company, so control is attempted to be wrested away from the government of maduro. i point out this becomes all the more important because the company under asdrubel chavez, mortgaged half of itself to the russian oil company and if they don't make the next bond payment which is due in april, which nobody thinks they are going to be able to make, theoretically control of the company goes to that russian oil company. lot of people upset

are the sanctions that keep the government from having access to the sale of that oil particularly citgo which is its crown jewel it's the u.s. subsidiary that money has been frozen it's been put into an escrow account it accounts for seventy percent of the government's access to hard currency and that now is completely out of its hands so we expect that very shortly we're going to be able the people here in israel at least so we get going to be able to feel the effects of those sanctions always good to talk to you thank you very much our last america out of san luis in human natur inside venezuela. india says it will completely isolate pakistan following first a suicide bombing in indian administered kashmir at least forty four military officers were killed and dozens wounded pakistan denies any involvement in the attack or bad money how small. a solemn occasion in india in the minutes to kashmir the home minister russian of thing helps to carry the coffin of the soldier killed in thursday's attack. one of dozens of security personnel targeted when a suicide bomber drove a car packed wi

citgo operates refineries and supplies some fifty five hundred petrol stations in twenty nine u.s. states. an israeli supreme court which is loyal to president nicolas my little issued a rapid response. to this is yet another assault by the national assembly which has been declared a more full accused of it as well as most vital resource its decision regarding. a constitutionally protected company are numb and void and have no legal effect the judge also ordered the extradition of the board members named by the national assembly the trumpet ministrations prepares to announce u.s. war sanctions aimed at further tightening the economic news on president of the sea and human got access india's government is promising a strong response against pakistan which are famous for an attack an indian administered kashmir that killed forty four of its soldiers on thursday new delhi has summoned pakistan's envoy and handed over a diplomatic protest note pakistan has denied supporting the group thought to be behind the attack al-jazeera is laura baron manley has more. scenes of devastation body p

the point of the general license that was provided for citgo operations was to allow citgo to continue to operate here in the united states and for any funds that would have been remitted back to the head of asa apparent in venezuela to be held in a blocked interest-bearing account here for the future use of the democratically elected representative. >> thank you. i'm out of time. i appreciate your expertise. thank you. >> thank you, mr. keating. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. abrams, you said that there's a coalition of 51 countries joining with us that we're a part of. how many of those countries have said that the use of military force is an option and should be on the table? how many of those other countries have stated that? >> i don't know if any have stated. >> i don't know either. that's why i asked the question. we're the only ones that have had their leaders say that? >> we are the only one probably in the position. >> that's not what i asked. the other thing is ambassador bolton a couple of weeks ago we've seen holding a note pad and it said 5,000 troops to colombia and the

shery: who controls sit call right now -- citgo right now? carlos: that is something we need to control. we just communicated the new government needs to take control of that. it's important to mention, i am representing the republic but citgo is a public entity. in order to take a little control, we had to take legal procedures according to the u.s. legislation. that is what we are doing now. amanda: would that include potential bankruptcy for citgo? carlos: no, that is not needed. what we want to do is just take political control and then we want to keep the operation running as they are right now. we will not do any change at this moment in time. interim president guaido says all the employees will remain at citgo as it is right now. we want to keep that operation running as it is. amanda: we appreciate your time today, sir. , venezuelanio charge d'affaires. coming up next, this is video of th at ces a month ago. a business reporter was there covering a sting operation into the company. the key player in that investigation shares his story

citgo operates refineries and supplies some fifty five hundred petrol stations in twenty nine u.s. states. and israel a supreme court which is loyal to president. issued a rapid response. this is yet another assault by the national assembly which has been declared unlawful against a video as well as most vital resource its decision regarding p.b.s. say a constitutionally protected company are null and void and have no legal effect the judge also ordered the extradition of the board members named by.

blocked the transfer of dividends from citgo the state oil company's u.s. subsidiary its crown jewel. citgo represents about seventy percent of him as well as hard currency a government that is already experiencing an unmanageable fiscal deficit and a suddenly deprived of seventy percent of its income and a government when no one who lend it money is simply economically unviable. that's the point of the u.s. sanctions to strangle than israel economically to force president nicholas mother little out. we had a large shipment of medicines to last the country for a year and a large battle for all materials for food the contras frozen the contracts are cancelled and the money seized they suffocate us stede our money and then say hold on to the scrum and put on a show for the world venezuela with dignity since no to the global show. and now to add insult to injury the opposition controlled legislature has named a new board of directors to take over the u.s. based company. citgo operates refineries and supplies some fifty five hundred petrol stations in twenty ni

citgo operates refineries and supplies some fifty five hundred petrol stations in twenty nine u.s. states. and israel a supreme. court which is loyal to president nicolas my little issued a rapid response. to this is yet another assault by the national assembly which has been declared unlawful accused of it as well as most vital resource its decision regarding p.b.s. say a constitutionally protected company void and have no legal effect the judge also ordered the extradition of the board members named by the national assembly to trumpet ministrations prepares to announce yes war sanctions aimed at further tightening the economic news on president of the sea and human got access india says it will completely isolate pakistan following thursday suicide bombing in indian administered kashmir at least forty four military officers were killed and dozens wounded pakistan has denied any role in the attack or person monthly reports the scenes of devastation body parts strewn across the highway in indian administered kashmir dozens were killed when a car packed with explosives rammed into a

citgo operates refineries and supplies some fifty five hundred petrol stations in twenty nine u.s. states. and israel a supreme court which is loyal to president nicolas maduro issued a rapid response. to this is yet another assault by the national assembly which has been declared a more full accused of it as well as most vital resource its decision regarding p.b.s. say a constitutionally protected company are numb and void and have no legal effect the judge also ordered the extradition of the board members named by the national assembly to trumpet ministrations prepares to announce yes war sanctions aimed at further tightening the economic news on president of the sea and human got access india's government is promising a strong response against pakistan which it claims for the west attack an indian administered kashmir in decades at least forty four indian soldiers were killed by a car bomb on thursday the judge in mohammad armed group says it was behind the attack pakistan's foreign ministry has denied allegations that it supports the group and says it views the attack with grav

liz: how far will go with their stake in citgo. do you think they will step back and let this issue ride. putin has yet to say he supports maduro. >> this is a bridge too far for maduro. he clearly understands veans is in our backyard. his purpose is to get his money back. you know as well as i do, putin is under enormous stress economically. he overinvested abroad. he's trying to get his money back to take care of things at home. it's the cubans exporting revolution, not the russians or chinese. liz: sorry we ran out of time. we had breaking news on amazon. coming up. venezuela's foreign minister trying to fact check the president's state of the union address. he's trying to claim it's u.s. economy falling apart, not venezuela's. jeff bezos is saying the "national enquirer" is trying to blackmail him over nude photos with a woman he was having an affair with. i don't know why i didn't get screened a long time ago. i kept putting it off... what was i thinking? ok, mr. jones... we're all done. i told you it was easy. with life line

trish: your dad worked for a lot of years for citgo. he ran engineering, the refinery operations in lake charles, louisiana. and it was pretty normal to go back and forth to venezuela maybe a couple times a year. but you said on this particular trip he was a little bit more reticent. what happened. >> it was right before thanksgiving. it was kind of a sporadic call. there were some men randomly saying you need to go down to this meeting. it just didn't feel right. it's been 14 months and we have been on this journey trying to bring him back home. trish: there are a lot of people that work at citgo in the u.s. carlos do you know why they were targeting your families? >> we do not know for sure. that's a question we have been trying to answer for 14 months. but the most of concise hypothesis we can come up with is they were work with their employers and they were forced to cut off contact with some individuals and that made them a target. >> your dad's grandsons 5 and 3. what do you tell them? >> this is the hardest thing for me because t

where is the old board of citgo? in the bahamas in a satellite office >> that's where he was operating from because he couldn't come into the united states for the last year because he had no work permit and the u.s. wasn't about to give him one. in the united states the u.s. law rules. >> if you want to is not the resistance, if you will, in the united states, it's ease why i next time you fill up with gas, go to citgo. thousands of men and women that got caught in the vice probably comfort to their ears as well. capital russ, always a pleasure. thank you. >> up next, it's a viral video alert. an extremely close call with a flying puck during last night's hockey game. we'll show you that video ahead. plus, waiting on wal-mart's numbers and for the retailer to do something it has not done in years stick around rebekkah: opioids has taken everything and everyone i've ever loved away from me. everything. i blew my ankle out and i got prescribed pain pills by my doctor. if making my detox public is gonna help somebody i

citgo operates refineries and supplies some fifty five hundred petrol stations in twenty nine u.s. states. and israel is supreme court which is loyal to president nicolas my little issued a rapid response. to this is yet another assault by the national assembly which has been declared a more full against of it as well as most vital resource its decision regarding. a constitutionally protected company void and have no legal effect the judge also ordered the extradition of the board members named by the national assembly the court's ruling will likely have no bearing in the united states because sicko operates under u.s. law and since u.s. economic sanctions stipulate that circles assets will be held in an escrow account until in new democratically elected government is sworn in in venezuela the opposition's move will have very little economic impact but politically it is a bitter blow for the government. and it's not likely to be the last as the trumpet ministration prepares to announce u.s. war sanctions aimed at further tightening the economic news on president. c. and human got a

citgo operates refineries and supplies some fifty five hundred petrol stations in twenty nine u.s. states. and israel a supreme court which is loyal to president nicolas maduro issued a rapid response. this is yet another assault by the national assembly which has been declared a more full accused of it as well as most vital resource its decision regarding p.b.s. say a constitutionally protected company void and have no legal effect the judge also ordered the extradition of the board members named by the national assembly to trumpet ministrations prepares to announce yes war sanctions aimed at further tightening the economic news on president of the sea and human got access are still ahead on our new zero skipping school to save the planet the growing youth movement and raising awareness of climate change. again this time arranging an interview with. the unsung heroes being celebrated at this year's birth in film festival.

citgo, a u.s. subsidiary of pdvsa, is authorized to continue business operations for the next six months. this license does not extend to dealings with pdvsa. the license for u.s. companies operating in venezuela will allow them to continue operations with minimal exceptions. the oil sector is an integral part of the venezuelan economy and its revival will be essential to recovery. we have engaged allies, including those in other regions, who have joint ventures in venezuela, on the goals and objectives of the sanctions. we are working to avoid disruptions in vulnerable energy sectors. the united states continues to work with oil producers and consumers all over the world to ensure access to reliable and affordable energy supply. we believe disruptions are unlikely. u.s. oil producers are a key reason why market are well supplied. over the past year, u.s. crude oil production increased by nearly 2 million barrels a day and exports increased by a million barrels a day. this added to market liquidity

citgo operates refineries and supplies some fifty five hundred petrol stations in twenty nine u.s. states. and israel a supreme court which is loyal to president. issued a rapid response. so this is yet another assault by the national assembly which has been declared unlawful against a video as well as most vital resource its decision regarding p.b.s. say a constitutionally protected company void and have no legal effect the judge also ordered the extradition of the board members named by the national assembly the trumpet ministrations prepares to announce u.s. war sanctions aimed at further tightening the economic news on president of the sea and human got access. the venezuelan opposition's envoy to the u.s. is trying to shore international support to help bring aid into his country but the u.n. which recognizes the president has called for talks every elizondo reports from washington d.c. . a ballroom full of diplomats to show support for venezuelan opposition leader want to. build is the first annual global conference on the humanitarian crisis in venezuela and hosted by those

saying they are giving the money like the venezuelan company citgo to guaido with the imf reporting that inflation is over 1,000,000%, many are suffering enormously. millions have left, according to the u.n. >> more than one million, maybe, but not millions have left. million, the inflation. those figures are crazy. we have an economic crisis. has there been mismanagement? may be. we are not a perfect government. it is very difficult to take when you're economy is under aggression, when there is an economic warfare against your economy, but i can say the main reason why our economy has struggled is because of the international attack -- specifically, this blockade and sanctions from the u.s. if we did not have the sanctions in the blockade, we could manage. if we had the $30 billion that has -- this blockade has cost over a year and a half and $15 billion that our company citgo represents as a value of the assets, things would be very different. we have to understand this. being translated into the suffering of many venezuelans, and this has to be stopped. juan: i would ask about the int

citgo operates refineries and supplies some fifty five hundred petrol stations in twenty nine u.s. states. and israel a supreme court which is loyal to president. issued a rapid response. this is yet another assault by the national assembly which has been declared unlawful against a video as well as most vital resource its decision regarding p.b.s. say a constitutionally protected company void and have no legal effect the judge also ordered the extradition of the board members named by the national assembly the trumpet ministrations prepares to announce yes war sanctions aimed at further tightening the economic news on president now that you see in human ad just got access. the venezuelan opposition's envoy to the u.s. is trying to shore up international support to help bring aid into his country but the u.n. which recognizes nicolas maduro as venezuela's president has called for talks about fifty u.n. member countries have pledged their support to mentor oh ever elizondo reports from washington. a ballroom full of diplomats to show support for venezuelan opposition leader want to.

subsidiary citgo petroleum the opposition is trying to gain control of the oil industry which venezuela relies heavily on. meanwhile aid remains blocked from entering venezuela u.s. president says but there was making a terrible mistake by not allowing it in he repeated that all options are on the table to force the venezuelan president down newman reports from. opposition leader one white dog confident that nothing will stop him from bringing food and medical aid into than israel on for every twenty third from across the colombian and brazilian borders. but president nicolas maduro vows to use the army to block it calling the main the usaid an imperialist trojan horse. so what is plan b. venezuela's army remains loyal to mother little. one suggestion from opposition coalition leader might be echoed you know my challenge is to accuse them of little of crimes against humanity if you blocks the aids passage when there is a genocide or crimes against humanity the world cannot stay in the front when we are asking is. peace a peace mission that helps these. being delivered to those who are m

five americans and the former ceo of citgo who had a green card to work here. they thought they were going there for a weekend business meeting. >> they went down there for a quick business meeting, thought they were coming back object tuesday. they were forced to go the week of thanksgiving. the next thing we know our parents' names are on the news. why are they being thrown in a basement with no due process. trish: i spoke to delcy rodriguez says what hostages. she said your dad being held there against his will with no hearing. she says you have been told lies. these are not americans. and i thought as i said last night on this show. i said you tell that to their families. alexandria, is your dad an american. >> absolutely. my dad went to lsu. we have been on the gulf coast for 20 years. i have an army of people, the whole gulf coast behind me. we have been a part of this community forever and we are proud americans. trish: what's your message to president trump tonight? >> to president trump, to guaido, to everybody, can you assure us they will be okay this

they worked for citgo or pdvsa which owns citgo. he took them 447 days ago. he duped them into coming to caracas for a business meeting. this is a crime. and you want to know what else is a crime? starving your people by not allowing them any access to humanitarian aid. what kind of person says he's for the people then sends his army to the board tore prevent the international community from giving food and medical supplies to those people? i showed you earlier in the show what nicolas maduro is doing. he's trying to manipulate the desperate people of venezuela. people who are starving. people who have nothing. he's manipulating them by offering food boxes in exchange for their loyalty. it's how horrible that is. your parents and your child is starving, what do you do? he'he's manipulated his people r too long. in a country that arguably has some of the largest oil reserves in the world, the people are running out of fuel. they are running out of food. and they are running out of hope. maduro must step down and must allow the venezuelan people to hold fair, f

trish: citgo is owned by pdvsa, which is owned by the venezuelan government. when the sanctions came out and the trump administration said all the revenues from citgo are going to go to juan guaido and this opposition group we recognize as the official leaders of venezuela. so he came out and named a new board which is important as well so they are able to siphon that money off and away from maduro. i want to share with you what senator rubio said to me about the u.s. and our involvement and what we should be doing in the coming days in venezuela. let's watch. >> the united states is going to contribute to that effort. we are here support the legitimate government of venezuela and whatever it is they ask for. he uses food and medicine as a weapon. that's why he's trying to block humanitarian aid. trish: food and medicine as a weapon. we showed the videos of people getting boxes of food, food that they desperately need. and we talked about how you can go to a grocery store but you can't buy anything. the store shelves are empty. they are getting a box of food.

recognized president juan guiado will reportedly appoint six new executives to citgo's board maybe as early as today. this comes as he tries to secure control of the company to help finance his interim government a new board has been expected for weeks and it has not happened if one does come, it would effectively invalidate the current company, which is still being run by venezuela's pervasa and the maduro regime. >>> well, staying with venezuela, and we've got an update to a story that we have been following very closely for you here on worldwide exchange that is following the venezuelan oil money. remember, last week we showed you how there were seven u.s. bound crude oil tankers filled with venezuelan oil all stuck in limbo because of the sanctions well, now there are six. yesterday one of the ships was able to unload oil in galveston, texas. we're still trying to figure out who the oil was for, and where the money from it went we are now keeping an eye on the remaining six tankers. >> shares of groupon are syncing this morning as thousands say no deal to its most recent quarter.

subsidiaries citgo petroleum the opposition is trying to gain control of an industry that is the economic backbone of the country the us which backs quite zero impose sanctions on venezuela's oil sector by do or says the sanctions are immoral and criminal this president says my door is making a terrible mistake by blocking us aid from entering venezuela he made the comments as he hosted his colombian counterpart at the white house is one of the ten not an american countries which has endorsed opposition leader as venezuela's interim president they are currently stockpiles of aid on colombia's border with venezuela which maduro is refusing to allow in our white house correspondent kimberly how good has more from washington. u.s. president donald trump is continuing to signal that all options are on the table when asked about military intervention by the united states in venezuela as well of course borders and the colombian president was meeting with donald trump in the oval office donald trump saying that the united states has many plans and there is a lot happening that people don't know

the biggest prize in that is citgo, the biggest number of refiners on the eastern u.s. questions are raised as to who owns the refineries. they are very important, pledged as collateral for debt. the worst week ever for u.s. soybean sales, thanks to china and the trade war. the u.s. saw the biggest ever net negative week of total sales going back to 1990, that's after china had a net cancellation of about 807000 metric tons of u.s. living purchases in the week that ended generally third could let's get into the ring. voters are battling it out in nigeria, holding a presidential election on saturday. the current president and his main challenger are the leading contenders in a field of 70 hopefuls. i'm joined now by a global security analyst. what is the likelihood of violence surrounding the elections? thomas: there's already been violence around the elections, but with regard to oil specifically, we have a threat from multiple groups in nigeria's delta rich oil region. the avengers ordered a threat yesterday attacking oil and for infrastructure and pipelines if the inc

i want to ask about citgo, venezuela's citgo weighing a bankruptcy filing following sanctions from the trump administration. what is the impact on oil prices, do you think? >> in the long term i rather suspect positive because it's pretty likely that venezuelan production is going to collapse given the u.s. was the largest single buyer oven of venezuell last year. that will help opec rebalance the oil market. over the course of the year i would expect prices to rise, a lot depends on the extent to which the global economy slows. you could be looking like something like $65 on the wti price. gerri: peter, thank you for that. lauren: "mornings with maria" starts right now. maria: happy friday, ladies. good morning. thanks for joining us. i'm maria bartiromo. it is friday, february 1st. your top stories right now, just before 6:00 a.m. on the east coast. the busiest week of earnings season wraps up today. on tap, merck, exxon mobil and chevron. amazon the stock to watch after the close last night. the technology giant under pressure this morning as revenue guidance comes in light of expec

subsidiary citgo petroleum the opposition is trying to gain control of an opposition of an industry rather that is the economic backbone of the country at least nine people have died after nearly a week of anti-government protests in haiti the demonstrators are calling on president. to step down that angry about rising costs economic stagnation and corruption. manufacturer bosses announced it will cease production of the world's largest passenger plane plane assented the fleet of only a few major airlines biggest customer ever it's just reduced its order for the a three eighty super jumbo the european aircraft maker will not continue for the auction past twenty twenty one double decker planes began flying ten years ago. taliban oil now stay with us. who started this thing i only know who the taliban were and i didn't know how radical they were just what they were about. one of the things of the talabani is is that they didn't have a clue about oil and gas business the idea was was to bring him over and establish credibility with it with the taliban that we were a real company. multi millon

her dad is one of several citgo executives currently jailed in venz wa ezuela and has been so november. one of the things that mike independen pence talked about amid the violence. humanitarian aid tries to get in. trish joins us now. ro >> reporter: i'm live in bogota, colombia, where it actually was sunny earlier today. i sat down with the vice president, mike pence, a short time ago. we talked about a whole host of things. one of course being whether or not we would see any kind of military action in terms of the united states' effort to see maduro move aside. and he kept reiterating that all options are on the table without being specific as to what that is. he did, however, say that he'd like to see more in the way of sanctions which they did put in place today, additional sanctions on four individuals, four governors that work closely with maduro. he did as well say that he wants to see as much as possible an international effort to really get rid of this guy that has done so much harm to his people and so much harm to his economy in venezuela including of course over the weekend

now owns 49%rently of citgo in the united states in exchange for a loan that russia gave. russia, china, and india are heavily invested in what happens to venezuelan oil. they are all recognizing the maduro government. so it is not a simple thing, this oil issue, as you just cut off the oil supply. >> no, no, no, that is correct. however, what you will find is that when the u.s. imposes this type of sanctions, it creates significant cost for other countries to continue to trade with a sanctioned country. that is what happened in iran. and manye chinese concerned about continuing to do in the wake of u.s. sanctions, therefore, the u.s. had to create -- first the obama administration and now trump -- reductions cost which continue to allow them to continue trading with iran. we had news over the weekend, still unreported, but reuters say they have confirmed that russian bank has frozen the account precisely because they are concerned with the possibility of being sanctioned for dealing with them. there is a sense in which u.s. foreign-policy goes beyond just the direct effec

oil assets venezuelan oil assets in the united states such as such as citgo in terms of moto and how long he can hang on you're right the crucial element here is the loyalty of the military and the military is not a homogenous block in venezuela and there is a high command that is very closely connected to my woodrow and is likely to remain supportive of this government as long as it can because it is united in with it is united with modo in sort of an unholy triad of things many of these high ranking officials are also indicted for drug trafficking violations by the united states and i and others or suspected of involvement in drug trafficking suspected of involvement or complicit in human rights violations and have been closely wed to the government's economic policy however below the high command there are certainly some signs that there are divisions in the officer corps and that lower levels of the venezuelan military are less willing to respond to commands from from on high from particularly if it comes to repress seen protests repressing their fellow venezuelans well there are