FILE PHOTO: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who many nations have recognised as the country's rightful interim ruler, takes part in a rally against President Nicolas Maduro's government in Valencia, Venezuela, March 16, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso/File Photo

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly named an ad-hoc board of directors to state chemical company Pequiven on Tuesday, a move aimed at allowing opposition leader Juan Guaido to gain control of the country’s assets abroad.

That allowed Guaido’s allies to name a board of directors to Monomeros, a Colombian chemical company owned by Pequiven. The move resembled Guaido’s naming of an ad-hoc board for state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela last month, allowing him to name new directors to U.S. refiner Citgo, a PDVSA subsidiary and Venezuela’s most important overseas asset.

Guaido, the head of the assembly, invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that President Nicolas Maduro’s May 2018 re-election was illegitimate. He has been recognized as Venezuela’s rightful leader by most Western countries, including the United States and Colombia.

Maduro, a socialist who argues that he is the victim of an attempted U.S.-led coup, remains in control of state functions and retains the support of the military top brass.

In approving the new board, the National Assembly said in a resolution that it was aiming to “protect the patrimony of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” accusing Maduro’s government of “compromising our companies abroad.”

Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pequiven, a unit of PDVSA, gained a majority stake in Monomeros in 2006 when it purchased a 47 percent share in the company for $53.7 million.