Venezuela transferred gold valued at around $5.2 billion to Switzerland while the country was under the rule of dictator Nicolás Maduro, the agency reported. Reuters this Tuesday (6). The shipments occurred mainly between 2013, when Maduro took charge of the country, and 2016, a period marked by the worsening of the Venezuelan economic crisis.
According to the ReutersVenezuela sent approximately 113 tons of gold to Switzerland during this period, originating from the Central Bank of Venezuela. The data indicates that exports ceased in 2017, the year in which European Union (EU) sanctions began to affect Venezuelan authorities and were subsequently also adopted by the Swiss government.
Experts cited by Reuters point out that there was an accelerated sale of gold by the Central Bank of Venezuela between 2012 and 2016, in an effort to sustain the economy in the face of the abrupt drop in oil revenues.
According to reports from the Swiss public broadcaster SRF and from Euronewsthe shipment of gold occurred in a context of strong deterioration in public accounts and a shortage of hard currency. At the time, the Venezuelan regime reduced its metal reserves to obtain liquidity, sell part of the gold on the international market and use another portion as collateral in financial operations and debt renegotiation.
A Euronews reports that, over the course of around five years, Caracas transported up to 127 tons of gold to Swiss refineries, which play a central role in the global market by transforming the metal into bars certified to the international standard known as “Good Delivery”, facilitating its commercialization and financial circulation.
According to the analysis of the Swiss broadcaster RTSpart of the Venezuelan gold refined in Switzerland would have been later transferred to other international centers, such as the United Kingdom, in addition to sales directed to countries such as Turkey. At the time of the shipments, these operations did not violate international sanctions in force.
