The United States sanctioned the Central Bank of Venezuela on April 17 to halt the former Maduro regime’s continued theft of Venezuela’s assets.
Maduro is selling off the country’s gold reserves so fast they could nearly disappear by the end of the year, a Venezuelan government official recently told Reuters.
As Venezuela’s economy collapsed in 2018, the regime began to liquidate gold held by the Central Bank of Venezuela in an attempt to maintain its stranglehold on the country.
Maduro’s regime sold 73 tonnes of gold — around $2.9 billion USD — to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates without the legally required approval of Venezuela’s National Assembly, according to the Reuters report. The regime has illegally removed at least 30 tonnes more gold in 2019 to sell abroad.
The U.S. sanctioned the Venezuelan state-owned gold-mining company, Minerven, and its president, Adrián Antonio Perdomo Mata, in March for their illegal transactions.
The plundering of the gold reserves threatens to leave the country bankrupt when a democratically elected leader works to rebuild the nation.
