Venezuela has 20 tons of gold ready to ship to an unknown address
With strongman President Nicolas Maduro losing control of the country’s already-scant finances, who can put his hands on the nation’s estimated 200 tons of gold at home and abroad has become a key question.
Venezuelan lawmaker Jose Guerra dropped a bombshell on Twitter Tuesday: The Russian Boeing 777 that had landed in Caracas the day before was there to spirit away 20 tons of gold from the vaults of the country’s central bank.
The claim set off a welter of social media speculation and outrage. When asked how he knew this, Guerra provided no evidence.
Just another outlandish comment from a lawmaker trying to draw attention to the plight of crisis-torn Venezuela? Perhaps not. For one thing, Guerra is a former central bank economist who remains in touch with old colleagues there. For another, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News Tuesday that 20 tons of gold have been set aside in the central bank for loading. Worth some $840 million, the gold represents about 20 per cent of its holdings of the metal in Venezuela, the person said. He provided no further information on plans for those bars.
With strongman President Nicolas Maduro losing control of the country’s already-scant finances and reserves thanks to U.S. sanctions, who can put his hands on the nation’s estimated 200 tons of gold at home and abroad has become a key question. The nation owes billions to its patrons Russia and China as well as bondholders, and also needs hard currency to buy food for its starving people.
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U.S., Russia intensify opposing stances on Maduro
The United States on Friday intensified its push to drive Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, as U.S. diplomats left the embassy in Caracas and Russia vowed to back its socialist South American ally.
Venezuela has been trying for years to increase its gold reserves by encouraging mining, putting the military in charge of vast territories that yield the precious metal. State gold processor Minerven melts the ore into bars, which military aircraft take to airbases around Caracas. Soldiers regularly unload it into armoured vehicles bound for the central bank and beyond.
The U.S. has been working to put National Assembly head Juan Guaido, who says he is the nation’s rightful president, in charge of Venezuelan finances and starve the regime. Last week, the Bank of England denied Maduro officials’ request to withdraw $1.2 billion of gold stored thereafter top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, lobbied their U.K. counterparts to cut off the regime from its overseas assets.
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