Venezuelan shipping tycoon Wilmer Ruperti has a long history rescuing Hugo Chavez. He's now trying to prevent Venezuela from running out of fuel - something likely to anger the US but come as relief to motorists waiting in line for three days to fill up.
Men stand close to their cars as they wait for hours to fill their cars up with gasoline in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, April 02, 2020. Lines at gas stations around the country's capital are getting longer and longer with some saying it was only this bad during the oil worker's strike of 2002.
Wilmer Ruperti’s Maroil Trading Inc. billed state-owned oil monopoly PDVSA 12 million euros last month for the purchase of up to 250,000 barrels of 95-octane gasoline, according to a copy of the invoice obtained by AP. The gasoline was purchased from an undisclosed Middle Eastern country, said two people familiar with the transaction. They agreed to discuss the sensitive dealings only on condition of anonymity.
But his latest gambit, which could help stave off a deepening humanitarian crisis, is bound to irritate the Trump administration, which this week doubled down on its campaign of support for opposition leader Juan Guaidó by sending Navy ships to the Caribbean on a counternarcotics mission following Maduro’s indictment in the U.S, on narcoterrorist charges.
In recent days, gas lines have popped up across Caracas, which is typically immune from days’ long waits common in the rest of the country. Most stations had closed as supplies ran out. “There’s a curfew at night and no public transportation,” he said. “One of my relatives could die at home because they don’t have a vehicle.”
Enter Ruperti to help again. In 2002, he chartered a fleet of Russian tankers to import gasoline amid a months’ long strike at PDVSA seeking to remove Chavez. More recently, he funded the defense of first lady Cilia Flores’ two nephews in a politically charged U.S. narcotics trial as well as that of American Joshua Holt, who was held for two years in a Caracas jail on what were seen as trumped-up weapons charges.
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