Venezuelan gold blocked in US over organised crime links
Shipments of Venezuelan gold worth hundreds of millions of dollars remain unprocessed in US warehouses. Refineries are rejecting the metal amid concerns about its connections to criminal gangs.
Venezuelan gold halted in US warehouses over corruption suspicions
American refineries are refusing to process batches of Venezuelan gold that have already arrived in the country, according to larazon.es, which cites an investigation by the New York Times (NYT). The shipments, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, remain untouched in warehouses amid concerns over the connections of Venezuelan companies to corrupt practices and organised crime.
The NYT investigation traces the route from mines in southern Venezuela to the White House and trading houses across Europe. Anonymous sources consulted by the newspaper say the Trump administration connected the United States to an industry that, in their words, "is still plagued by the same criminality that he said he was fighting when he arrested (Nicolás) Maduro".
"American financiers are investing in a mine linked to organised crime members as part of a deal negotiated by the Trump administration," the report states. The NYT adds that "planes transported gold out of Venezuela even before companies visited the mines", and that some of that metal "is linked to miners who pay bribes to gangs".
The central obstacle lies in international standards: refineries must guarantee that the gold has not financed criminal gangs, environmental destruction or corruption. Trump himself had included Venezuelan gold on a blacklist in March 2019, during his first term, precisely for those reasons.
However, in March of this year—two months after Nicolás Maduro's capture by Washington—officials from the US Government negotiated with state mining company Minerven a multi-million dollar agreement. The agreement contemplates the sale of up to one tonne of gold on American markets, currently valued at approximately 165 million dollars.
According to reports from American media at the time, the agreement requires Minerven to supply between 650 and 1,000 kilos of Doré gold bars to commodities trader Trafigura, which would be responsible for transporting the metal to refineries in US territory. For now, that process remains halted.
Source: Google News VE — Crime