Venezuela Says Will Repay Debt

The United States in August prohibited dealings in new debt from Venezuela and state oil company PDVSA in response to the creation of a new legislative superbody that critics call the consolidation of a dictatorship, Reuters reported. The sanctions did not block banks from serving as intermediaries in debt payments, but the government of President Nicolas Maduro has said they are interfering with the country’s finances and threatening to lead it toward default. “We are going to meet our commitments. We have come across a series of difficulties, but that will not stop us,” Lobo said in a news conference. “There is an order to impose a financial blockade so as to put us in a situation of insolvency, which is completely out of the question.” Financial institutions have in recent years grown wary of doing business with Venezuela even before recent sanctions, due to concern that Venezuelan funds might be associated with money laundering and drug trafficking, and a growing risk of debt default.