A US Court Called Maduro an Insurrectionist. That Matters.

What do you get when you mix $54 million worth of seized crude oil, an alleged insurrection, and a dispute over the legitimacy of the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela? The answer: last week’s somehow overlooked but important decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a lawsuit between Citgo Petroleum Corp. and its insurer. (For those who guessed “Trump bingo,” no credit — but stay tuned; we’ll get to that later.)

The case begins prosaically. In 2019, Citgo purchased about 939,000 barrels of crude oil from a subsidiary of the Venezuelan state-owned oil company. The oil was loaded onto a ship, known for convenience as the Gerd. But before the Gerd left port, the US imposed sanctions on various Venezuelan entities, including the subsidiary. Venezuela then refused to allow the ship to leave its waters. Citgo presented a letter from the Venezuelan attorney general attesting to its ownership of the oil, but departure was still refused.