Calixto Ortega Sánchez

Calixto José Ortega Sánchez is a Venezuelan engineer and diplomat who served as the President of the Central Bank of Venezuela from June 2018 to April 2025.

Career In 2009, he was one of the members of the Venezuelan diplomatic corps that were given persona non grata while he was consul in Houston in response to a similar measure approved during the Hugo Chavez government against US diplomats in Venezuela. From 2014, he was consul of Venezuela in both Houston and New York and then served as a principal adviser to Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).

In November 2017, eight days before the arrest of the president and five other directors of the subsidiary, José Ángel Pereira Ruimwyk, he was appointed as vice president of administration and finance of Citgo, having joined the company only a couple of months ago. According to an investigation carried out by the journalist Maibort Petit, in the designation the requirements demanded by the United States government to the companies for the approval of the L1 visas, related to the transfers of transnational executives, were violated.

Tenure Calixto Ortega has held the following positions: Vice President of Finance of CITGO Advisor in Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) Consul General of Venezuela in New York and Houston, Texas, United States Delegate of Venezuela before the Administration and Budget Commission, Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the United Nations