Venezuela has 31 tons of gold — worth about $2 billion — stored in underground vaults at the Bank of England in London. But the British government has, since 2018, denied access to the gold bars to the government of dictator Nicolás Maduro. The reason: Maduro is not recognized as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Re-elected in May 2018 in a rigged election not recognized by the opposition, his tenure was not recognized.
In January 2019, the National Assembly of Venezuela announced that Maduro would usurp the presidency, and Juan Guaidó, the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, declared himself the interim president of Venezuela. The Organization of American States (OAS) and 50 other countries have failed to recognize Maduro as president.
On two occasions, while rejecting Maduro’s request, England’s High Court said it would only recognize Quito as Venezuela’s president. Therefore, who should have authority over these gold reserves is the Council of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), appointed by the legitimate government.
Source: Western Magazine
