20 tonnes of Venezuelan gold is good to go
With the country owing billions to Russia and China, who has access to the nation’s estimated 200 tonnes of gold has become a key question
Caracas— Venezuelan MP José Guerra dropped a bombshell on Twitter on Tuesday: the Russian Boeing 777 that had landed in Caracas the day before was there to spirit away 20 tonnes of gold from the vaults of the country’s central bank. The claim set off a welter of social media speculation and outrage. When asked how he knew this, Guerra provided no evidence. Just another outlandish comment from a law maker trying to draw attention to the plight of crisis-torn Venezuela? Perhaps not. For one thing, Guerra is a former central bank economist who remains in touch with old colleagues there. For another, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that 20 tonnes of gold have been set aside in the central bank for loading. Worth some $840m, the gold represents about 20% of its holdings of the metal in Venezuela, the person said. He provided no further information on plans for those bars. With strongman President Nicolás Maduro losing control of the country’s a...
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