Headquartered in Barranquilla, Colombia, Monómeros is a subsidiary of the Venezuelan state-owned company Pequiven. Photo: Monómeros.
Guacamaya, June 18, 2025. The U.S. Treasury Department does not plan to renew the license that allows Monómeros to conduct financial transactions despite sanctions, according to Bloomberg.
The license expires at the end of June and currently permits the Venezuelan state-owned company to market its products and carry out financial transactions, including through subsidiaries dedicated to port services.
The decision is part of the recent strategy by Donald Trump’s administration to cut off any revenue streams for the Venezuelan economy, thereby increasing pressure on Nicolás Maduro.
Monómeros Colombo Venezolanos, based in Barranquilla, sells fertilizers and other agricultural supplies at subsidized prices to producers in both neighboring countries. Its assets are estimated to be worth $600 million (as of 2021), while its plant supplies 28% of Colombia’s fertilizers.
In November, Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused Maduro and his Minister of Industries, Alex Saab, of seeking to privatize Monómeros. In a May interview, Petro stated that he would like Ecopetrol to purchase the fertilizer company.
In 2017, Monómeros was subjected to its first sanctions due to its financing ties as a subsidiary of Pequiven and, by extension, PDVSA. In 2019, Bogotá handed it over to the “interim government” of Juan Guaidó, who appointed a new board of directors.
In 2021, the Colombian government intervened in the Venezuelan company, partly to correct mismanagement and partly to prevent it from returning to Maduro’s administration. With Petro’s rise to the presidency in 2022, the company was returned to Pequiven.
In January 2025, the newly appointed president of the Venezuelan petrochemical company, Román Maniglia, explored the sale of Monómeros for $350 million. The company has been in induced bankruptcy since 2024 due to money transfers sent to Pequiven and the risk of sanctions.
