Goldman confirms buying Venezuela bonds after opposition cries foul

Maduro’s opposition says the process outlined by Maduro for selecting the assembly is created to skew it in his favor by stacking the assembly with his supporters.

He urged “good-faith negotiations” among all Venezuelans, adding that “the main responsibility for showing good faith in any negotiations now is on President Maduro and the government of Venezuela“.

In that time, the list of protesters’ demands – from the resumption of local elections to an end to the nationwide food shortage, to even the ouster of Maduro himself – has grown. Their path, however, is blocked by the armored vehicles and officers of the security forces.

However the purchase was made, opposition leaders say it poured hundreds of millions of dollars in hard currency into the collapsing socialist government, propping it up and making Goldman Sachs Group complicit in further human rights abuses.

Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A source close to the bank said its emerging market bond index is a reflection of economic data and cash available in financial markets, not a country’s policies. “The problem is that there are only $3 billion of these bonds – so either at least one of the stories is incorrect, or the Venezuela Central Bank recalled the Fintech repo early, or Venezuela and PDVSA made more than $3 billion of this bond”.

Venezuelan riot police fires a tear gas canister at protesters, in Caracas, May 31, 2017.

“This was not a pleasant meeting”, said today European Parliament President, Antonio Tajani, in a press conference with Julio Borges, President of the National Assembly of Venezuela, in the EU Parliament in Brussels.

Democratic elections aren’t allowed in the country, which is ruled over by Nicolas Maduro, reports Reuters.

Separately, the Venezuela opposition, emboldened by a string of increasingly massive street demonstrations, sharply criticized Wall Street for extending what it called a “lifeline” to the Maduro government.

Goldman has since said its asset-management arm acquired the bonds “on the secondary market from a broker and did not interact with the Venezuelan government”.

In April, Maduro’s administration announced the country would withdraw from the OAS, accusing its chief, Luis Almagro, of joining in a USA -led a campaign to undermine Venezuelan sovereignty.

Maria Angela Holguin, Colombia’s chancellor to the OAS, said in Spanish that coming up with a solution to the crisis in Venezuela is becoming “increasingly urgent”.

Legislator Jose Olivares, who is a doctor, tweeted a picture of a bruise on Capriles’ face that he said was the result of a soldier hitting him with a helmet during the clashes.

Henrique Capriles, the opposition governor of the state of Miranda, told reportersthat he and his team were beaten by security forces in a march this past weekend.

31 de mayo de 2017, 18:25San Jose, May 31 (Prensa Latina) Patricia Mora, president and MP from the Frente Amplio (FA) party, said today that Costa Rica cannot be influence by the opposition to the Government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, while denouncing the growing foreign interference in that country.

Many of those foreign leaders, for their part, plan to meet Wednesday to discuss a possible way forward in negotiating with Maduro’s government.