Another Scandal for Trump

Published in El País
(Spain) on 6 November 2017
by Editorial (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Kaleb Vick. Edited by Tiana Robles.
The discovery that Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross does business with the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, puts Donald Trump in a very complicated position. Either the president renounces his associate or he will have to give ample explanations as to why he's allowing one of his right-hand men to spend money on a regime on which he himself has imposed sanctions.

Information from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, in which a variety of media from all over the world participate, uncovered that Ross – a millionaire private equity investor, defined by Trump on occasion as “the legendary Wall Street genius” – sustained involvement with a shipping line that does business with the state oil company PDVSA, controlled directly by the chavista regime. This business is one of the main reasons for the sanctions Trump approved in August against chavista leaders, to the point that it is prohibited for its U.S. subsidiary, Citgo, to send dividends to Caracas.

Apparently, neither this blatant conflict of interest nor the recurring threats from Trump against the Venezuelan regime – “We have a problem with Venezuela, they are doing very badly”* (March); “We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option, if necessary” (August); “confronting … socialist oppression in Venezuela”** (October) – constitute any conflict for Ross, whose spokespeople have already indicated that they've never had to look for “any ethics exemptions.”

Since before Trump officially took office in January, the contradictions and confusion between the public and private have been a personal trademark of his administration. Ross's behavior shocked everyone except the involved party. And probably not the president either.

*Editor’s note: These statements were made in February during a meeting with Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

**Editor’s note: The full quotation reads: “We're confronting rogue regimes from Iran to North Korea and we are challenging the communist dictatorship of Cuba and the socialist oppression of Venezuela.”


La revelación de que el secretario de Comercio de Estados Unidos, Wilbur Ross, hace negocios con la Venezuela de Nicolás Maduro coloca en una posición muy complicada a Donald Trump. O bien el presidente prescinde de su colaborador o bien tendrá que dar amplias explicaciones de por qué permite a uno de sus hombres de confianza ganar dinero con un régimen al que él mismo ha impuesto sanciones.

Las informaciones del Consorcio Internacional de Periodistas de Investigación, en el que participan diversos medios de comunicación de todo el mundo, muestran que Ross —un millonario inversor de capital privado a quien Trump ha definido en ocasiones como “el legendario genio de Wall Street”— mantuvo una participación de una compañía naviera que hace negocios con la compañía estatal de petróleo PDVSA, controlada directamente por el régimen chavista. Esta empresa es uno de los principales objetivos de las sanciones aprobadas por Trump en agosto contra líderes chavistas, hasta el punto de que se prohíbe que su filial en EE UU, Citgo, pueda enviar dividendos a Caracas.

Pero al parecer ni este flagrante conflicto de intereses ni las recurrentes amenazas de Trump contra el régimen venezolano —“tenemos un problema con Venezuela, que lo está haciendo muy mal” (marzo); “tenemos muchas opciones para Venezuela, incluyendo una posible opción militar si es necesario” (agosto); “vamos contra la opresión socialista en Venezuela” (octubre)— constituyen contradicción alguna para Ross cuyos portavoces ya han asegurado que nunca ha tenido que buscar “exoneración ética alguna”.

Desde antes de que en enero Trump asumiera oficialmente, el cargo las contradicciones y la confusión entre lo público y lo privado son marca personal de su Administración. El comportamiento de Ross escandaliza a todos menos al interesado. Y probablemente tampoco al presidente.
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