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On March 3, 2021, an opposition representative said that Venezuela sent gold to Mali in 2020 via Russian-owned planes to exchange for euros and U.S. dollars that President Nicolas Maduro’s government used to remain afloat despite U.S. sanctions.
Juan GUAIDO the opposition leader nominated Julio BORGES as his chief overseas envoy and he told reporters that the gold was refined in Mali and then resold primarily in the UAE to allow for Maduro’s administration to obtain foreign currency cash.
The US imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company in early 2019 in a bid to pressure Maduro to resign. US accuses MADURO of rigging his 2018 re-election.
BORGES said: “We are requesting that U.S. and European authorities make their system for dismantling these types of organized crime groups more sophisticated”.
Noor Capital, an Emirati company that in early 2019 said it had bought three tons of gold from Venezuela’s Central Bank but would refrain from further transactions until Venezuela’s situation stabilized, had been involved in the 2020 transactions.
Noor had said in January 2019 that its purchases of Venezuelan gold were in accordance with “international standards and laws in place” as of January 21 of that year.
A person close to the Venezuelan government said that much of the gold leaving the country was destined for the UAE after two stops, but did not provide further details.
Neither Venezuela’s central bank nor the government’s information ministry immediately responded to requests for comment. The UAE and Mali governments also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The UAE is one of the world’s largest gold hubs.
The US which has put sanctions on Venezuela’s gold exports said that MADURO continued to sell gold to fund itself.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said: “Since 2016, Maduro has actively encouraged, supported, and facilitated the illegal mining, distribution, and sale of gold by his inner circle, funding repression, treating the country’s natural resources as his own, and devastating fragile ecosystems”.
MADURO, who retains the support of the Venezuelan military and allies including Russia, China, and Cuba, supports the idea that GUAIDO is a U.S. puppet seeking to oust him in a coup.
This article was edited using the data from Aljazeera.com, Reuters.com, Financialpost.com, Postofasia.com, and Nationalpost.com.
