On Aug. 25, 2017, the U.S government banned the trade in any new bonds or stocks of the Venezuelan government and PDVSA, as well as dividend payments or other distributions of profits to the Government of Venezuela from any entity owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by them. Banks also cannot engage in new lending with the government or PDVSA. In September, the Venezuelan government had difficulty making a coupon payment on their sovereign bonds, driven by these sanctions. The coupon was paid a week after it was scheduled. Given PDVSA's current sanctions and its already pressured liquidity position, we are uncertain about the company's ability to pay its upcoming debt maturities at the end of the month and beginning
