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<font size="1"><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/14/venezuelas-ability-to-fight-covid-19-is-badly-hamstrung-by-the-31-metric-tons-of-gold-stolen-from-its-treasury/">https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/14/venezuelas-ability-to-fight-covid-19-is-badly-hamstrung-by-the-31-metric-tons-of-gold-stolen-from-its-treasury/</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Venezuela’s Ability to Fight COVID-19 is
Badly Hamstrung by the 31 Metric Tons of Gold Stolen From Its Treasury<br></h1>
<span class="gmail-post_author_intro">by</span> <span class="gmail-post_author"><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/author/crmnvsr3993/" rel="nofollow">Vijay Prashad – Carmen Navas Reyes</a></span>- October 14, 2020
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<div id="gmail-attachment_128928" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img src="https://www.counterpunch.org/wp-content/dropzone/2020/10/1920px-COVID-19_Outbreak_Cases_in_Venezuela.svg.png" alt="" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="452" height="392"></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-128928" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Map of the COVID-19 outbreak in Venezuela. Image Source: LuisZ9 – Own work, data from Prodavinci – <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en">CC0</a></p></div>
<p>On October 5, 2020, the England and Wales Court of Appeal <a href="https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Maduro-Board-v-Guaido-Board-judgment.pdf">overturned</a>
a lower court decision from July that denied the Venezuelan government
access to 31 metric tons of its gold stored in the Bank of London. No
one denies that the gold belongs to the Venezuelan government. However,
the bank refused to give the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás
Maduro access to the gold; following the UK Foreign Office’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-recognises-juan-guaido-as-interim-president-of-venezuela">example</a>, the bank said that the actual president of Venezuela was Juan Guaidó.</p>
<p>Mr. Guaidó, unlike President Maduro, has not won an election to the
presidency, nor is he in the line of succession to become president in
any eventuality. The anointing of Mr. Guaidó <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-donald-j-trump-recognizing-venezuelan-national-assembly-president-juan-guaido-interim-president-venezuela/">came</a>
from the United States government, not the Venezuelan people; the UK
Foreign Office and the lower courts agreed with Washington, while the
England and Wales Court of Appeal relied for its decision on fact and
logic.</p>
<p>The main finding of the Court of Appeal is that while the UK Foreign
Office has stated that it does not recognize the government of President
Maduro, it continues to conduct diplomatic affairs with the
representatives of that government. Ambassador Rocío Del Valle Maneiro
González <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/venezuelan-envoy-rocio-del-valle-maneiro-gonzalez-to-join-labour-conference-chris-williamson-karen-lee-jeremy-corbyn-maduro-tony-burke-xx5gl6q28">presented</a>
her credentials to the Queen of England in 2015 and has for these past
five years represented the government of President Maduro in the UK. The
current British ambassador to Venezuela—Andrew Soper—<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-ambassador-to-venezuela-presents-his-letter-of-credentials">presented</a>
his credentials to President Maduro on February 5, 2018; he remains in
office in Caracas. Such basic diplomatic relations indicated to the
Court of Appeal that President Maduro—in the eyes of the UK
government—“does in fact exercise some or all of the powers of the
President of Venezuela.”</p>
<p>Mr. Guaidó’s lawyer—Vanessa Neumann—<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d5e91ab8-f44f-437a-887e-7a5aa402976d">said</a>
that the Venezuelan government wanted the $1.95 billion (in today’s
gold prices) so that it could “illicitly finance itself.” But the
Venezuelan government’s lawyer—Sarosh Zaiwalla—argued that these funds
would be used by the government to break the chain of infection of
COVID-19 and provide relief to a population struck by the U.S.
unilateral sanctions and by the disruptions caused by the pandemic. The
Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) <a href="https://bit.ly/2SMfpGb">said</a>
that it wants to sell the gold, to have the funds paid to the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP), and to allow the UNDP to assist in
the government’s response to the pandemic. Even this channel via the
UNDP has been rejected by Mr. Guaidó, by the UK government, and by
Washington; there is no likely reason they would do this outside of a
desire to punish the Venezuelan people in the midst of this pandemic.</p>
<p><b>Money for Medicines</b></p>
<p>Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the Instituto Simón Bolívar have been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvGkKmpqEdg">studying</a>
the social impact of these very harsh sanctions imposed by the U.S.
administration since 2017. They have found that the primary and
secondary sanctions have starved the Venezuelan people of the means to
conduct basic commerce: to sell their oil and to buy food, medicines,
and educational materials (primary
sanctions directly prevent citizens and firms of the sanctioning
country from having any dealings with the country being sanctioned;
secondary sanctions prevent a third party—either a country or a
firm—from dealing with the sanctioned country). Tens of thousands of
Venezuelans <a href="https://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/venezuela-sanctions-2019-04.pdf">have</a>
died unnecessary deaths because of the denial of trade in medicines and
medical equipment; this has challenged the already fragile system
during the pandemic. To allow these unilateral sanctions by the United
States, and its pursuit of regime change in Venezuela, to define the way
Venezuela can fight the virus and the disease is shocking. “Collective
penalties,” <a href="https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5">says</a> the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), “are prohibited.”</p>
<p>What does the Venezuelan government wish to buy with the $1.95
billion that would be turned over to the UNDP? According to research by
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the Instituto Simón
Bolívar, the bulk of the funds—$600 million—is planned to go toward the
purchase of medicines for 400,000 people in hospitals, for obstetric
medicines for 550,000 pregnant women, and medicines for the 243
community pharmacies. Then, $450 million is planned to go toward
disposable medical supplies for 400,000 surgeries, for 245 health
centers, and for 3,000 pacemakers. Finally, $250,000 has been planned
for the supply of reagents for laboratories (for hematology and
serology), and for spare parts for various kinds of medical equipment
(including radiation therapy equipment). This is how the Venezuelan
government—in collusion with the UNDP—would like to “illicitly finance
itself.”</p>
<p>In May, three UN special rapporteurs <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/05/1063372">wrote</a>
that in Venezuela, “hospitals are reporting a shortage of medical
supplies, protective equipment and medicine.” These are exactly the
materials on the list from the Venezuelan government to buy from the
proceeds of the sale of the 31 metric tons of gold. These
experts—Olivier De Schutter (extreme poverty and human rights), Léo
Heller (water and sanitation), and Kombou Boly Barry (education)—said,
“especially in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the United States
should immediately lift blanket sanctions, which are having a severe
impact on the human rights of the Venezuelan people.”</p>
<p>The independent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvGkKmpqEdg">research</a>
from Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the Instituto
Simón Bolívar concurs with the opinions of these UN experts; the
U.S.-driven sanctions have negatively impacted the capacity of the
Venezuelan people to thrive and exercise their human rights. The
unilateral sanctions must be lifted. Short of that, we believe that
Venezuela’s 31 metric tons of gold in the Bank of London must be sold,
the proceeds delivered to the UNDP, and the medical supplies urgently
shipped to Venezuela. Anything other than that is a crime against the
Venezuelan people.</p>
<p><em>This article was produced by Globetrotter.</em></p>
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