The Germans confiscated 20 tons of Venezuelan gold
The German Deutsche Bank confiscated almost 20 tons of Venezuelan gold, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Caracas gave the bars to a German bank as collateral for a loan he took out in 2016. However, Venezuela later missed several interest payments, and Deutsche Bank decided to close the loan early, Bloomberg found.
Venezuela has not fulfilled the terms of the agreement on a $750 million loan, which it received from the largest German bank Deutsche Bank AG. In this regard, the lender confiscated 20 tons of gold, which were provided to him by Caracas as collateral, and closed the loan. Two sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg about this.
We are talking about a loan that Venezuela received in 2016, the agency explains. The money was then given to her in cash. Caracas handed over 20 tons of gold as collateral to Deutsche Bank. The loan repayment period, Bloomberg's interlocutors indicate, was supposed to expire in 2021, but due to missed interest payments, Venezuela's obligations to the German bank were repaid ahead of schedule.
A Deutsche Bank spokesman declined to comment on the situation. The agency was unable to promptly contact the press secretary of the Venezuelan Central Bank.
At the same time, Bloomberg notes, supporters of the opposition leader of Venezuela, speaker of the local national assembly Juan Guaido, asked Deutsche Bank to deposit $120 million into an account to which the current president of the republic, Nicolas Maduro, will not have access. This amount, Guaido’s associates believe, reflects the difference in the price of gold from the moment of its acquisition to the current level.
The situation in Venezuela worsened in January after Maduro's inauguration. Last year he won the country's presidential elections, but the local opposition and a number of foreign countries did not recognize the results of this vote. After this, Guaido, at an opposition rally of thousands, declared himself the interim president of the country. In this capacity, he was supported by more than 50 countries, including the USA, Canada, EU countries and Latin American countries. Russia, China and some other countries, in turn, provided support to the Maduro government.
Several attempts to forcefully remove Maduro were unsuccessful, but Maduro continues to lose control over the situation in the country, which continues to deteriorate.
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