Maduro's lawmaker son says Venezuela open to paying $10 billion debt to China

Nicolas Maduro Guerra, member of Venezuela’s National Assembly and son of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Caracas, Venezuela May 9, 2024. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa

By Deisy Buitrago

CARACAS (Reuters) -Venezuela is open to paying its $10 billion debt to China, lawmaker Nicolas Maduro Guerra, son of President Nicolas Maduro, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

Nicolas Maduro Guerra, member of Venezuela’s National Assembly and son of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Caracas, Venezuela May 9, 2024. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa

Venezuela’s relationship with China is “foolproof and weatherproof,” Maduro Guerra said, adding that Chinese companies are open to investing in the South American country.

China is a major player in Venezuela’s oil and gas sector and the OPEC country’s largest creditor where in 2007 it reached a $50 billion agreement for credit lines and loans-for-oil deals with the South American country’s then-leader, Hugo Chavez.

Nicolas Maduro Guerra, member of Venezuela’s National Assembly and son of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, poses for a photograph after an interview with Reuters, in Caracas, Venezuela May 9, 2024. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa

President Maduro’s government had to negotiate grace periods for loans worth $19 billion in August 2020, and Venezuela currently owes the Asian giant some $10 billion.

Maduro Guerra, an economist, is his father’s oldest child from a previous marriage and is a close confident of the president, who is running for re-election in voting scheduled for July.

The elections are due to take place amid complaints that opposition politicians are treated unfairly, prompting the U.S. to reimpose sanctions on the OPEC nation’s oil industry.

In publishing its decision last month, Washington gave companies 45 days to “close” their businesses and transactions with Venezuela’s oil and gas industry.

In response, Venezuela’s oil industry “must expand and we are seeking to expand” into new markets, Maduro Guerra said.

“We depended on selling oil to the United States (…) if it doesn’t want to buy, we’ll sell it somewhere else.”

Maduro Guerra said he did not know if there had been new meetings between Venezuela’s government and the United States.

However, communication channels with Washington remain in tact, Maduro Guerra said, without giving details.

(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago and Vivian Sequera in Caracas; Writing by Oliver Griffin; editing by Diane Craft)