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Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has called on the Bank of England to release the country’s gold reserves worth about $1.9 billion, which have remained frozen for more than six years.
Venezuela has been unable to access the gold, valued at $1.9 billion in 2023, since Britain refused to recognise Nicolas Maduro’s re-election in 2018.
Speaking on Wednesday, Rodriguez accused the bank of withholding the country’s assets unlawfully and insisted that the reserves belonged to the Venezuelan people.
She also directed the foreign ministry and attorney general’s office to pursue legal and diplomatic channels to secure the gold’s return.
The dispute heightened in 2019 when Juan Guaido, then Venezuela’s opposition leader, urged the Bank of England not to release the reserves to Maduro’s government.
However, relations between London and Caracas have shown signs of improvement.
The two countries announced in September that they would appoint ambassadors to their respective diplomatic missions, replacing the lower-ranking officials who had been in charge.
The renewed push to recover the gold also follows an August agreement between Venezuela’s interim government and a section of the opposition during discussions on a democratic transition.
Both sides agreed to pursue the return of the reserves to support victims of earthquakes that struck on June 24.
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Rodriguez argued that the prolonged dispute amounted to an attempt to deprive Venezuela of its resources, stressing that the gold formed part of the country’s central bank reserves.
“What we have seen in recent years is what we in Venezuela call a mockery, but it is a mockery aimed at unlawfully seizing these resources. That gold is part of the central bank’s reserves,” stressed Rodriguez.
Her demand comes nine months after Maduro was removed from power in a United States military operation, with the interim administration facing pressure from Washington.
