Washington/President Donald Trump’s Administration is redirecting gold from Venezuela to the United States, but refineries are not processing it, due to questions about alleged connections of Venezuelan companies to corrupt practices, according to published this Monday The New York Times (NYT).
The investigation carried out by the American newspaper ranges from the mines in southern Venezuela to the White House and the commercial houses of Europe. The anonymous sources consulted affirm, referring to the capture of the former Venezuelan president by Washington in January, that Trump connected the United States with an industry that “is still plagued by the same criminality that he claimed to be fighting by arresting Maduro.”
“American financiers are investing in a mine linked to members of organized crime as part of an agreement negotiated by the Trump Administration,” the extensive report reveals.
Although there are consignments of Venezuelan gold that have already arrived in the United States, the shipments, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, remain intact in warehouses
“Planes transported gold out of Venezuela even before the companies visited the mines, and some of that gold is linked to miners who pay bribes to the gangs,” says the American newspaper.
However, and despite the fact that there are consignments of Venezuelan gold that have already arrived in the United States, the shipments, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, remain intact in warehouses, he says. NYT.
The obstacle to processing the metal is that, according to international standards, refiners would have to guarantee that the gold has not financed criminal gangs, environmental destruction or corruption.
Trump himself, during his first term, included Venezuelan gold in 2018 on a “blacklist” due to its connections to environmental destruction and corrupt practices.
However, in March of this year, two months after the capture of the former president of Venezuela, United States Government officials negotiated with the state mining company Minerven a multimillion-dollar agreement to sell up to a ton of gold in the US markets, currently valued at about $165 million.
The gold deal would require Minerven to supply between 650 and 1,000 kilos of Dore gold bars to commodities trader Trafigura, which will be responsible for transporting the gold to US refineries, US media reported at the time.
