"Venezuela's National Assembly investigates oil spill", 13th August 2020

Venezuela's National Assembly, the only institution which is not controlled by the government, has demanded information on a oil spill which has caused a large slick to be washed up on the shores of Falcón state...

The government of President Nicolás Maduro has neither provided any information on how big the oil spill is nor said what may have caused it.

Opposition lawmaker María Gabriela Hernández said she suspected that the oil came from the El Palito refinery.

Ms Hernández, who heads the National Assembly's environment commission, demanded that the state-oil company PDVSA give lawmakers access to its maintenance records from El Palito.

PDVSA, a once-powerful oil company, is a shadow of its former self after decades of under-investment and lack of maintenance. Many of its most capable petroleum engineers are among the more than five million Venezuelans who have left the country to escape its political and economic crisis...