Rafael Ramírez affirms that the petro is an illegal currency

The former president of PDVSA indicated that oil reserves can not be placed under guarantee because they are public domain

The former president of Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) indicated in his column published on the portal Aporrea that the virtual currency is a bond where the oil reserves of citizens are placed under guarantee. He indicated that the Constitution reserves oil as property of the Venezuelan State, which is in the public domain and can not be seized or placed under any kind of guarantee.

Ramírez referred to the leader of the operation in cryptocurrencies, who was a "diligent or militant of the extreme right", so now the government has "new friends". He clarified that they are not political nor do they have "socialist objectives".

On December 3, 2017, President Nicolás Maduro announced the creation of a cryptocurrency system called "petro", which is based on oil, gas and diamond reserves. So far, the virtual currency has not started functioning.

The superintendent of the cryptocurrency, Carlos Vargas, announced that the asset would not be worthwhile and all the operations carried out with it will be controlled by the State.