Venezuelan gold is from Venezuela and not the Bank of England, says activist

The Bank of England has recently refused to release Venezuela's gold bullion bars estimated at $ 550 million, The Times quoted anonymous sources as saying.

British officials have expressed "concerns that Maduro [Venezuelan president] can seize gold, which is owned by the state, and sell it for his own benefit," the publication writes.

In an interview, Hands Off Venezuela activist Jorge Martín commented on the issue.

According to Martin, this is a "very scandalous situation, because gold does not belong to the Bank of England or to the British government".

"[Gold] belongs to Venezuela. They are basically holding back something that is not theirs."

He adds that many countries in the world "deposit their gold reserves in places where they are supposed to be safe", and that it should not be the authorities who decide "the future use of this money."

Martín points out that this "justifies the decision made by President [Hugo] Chávez a few years ago, when he repatriated most of Venezuela's gold reserves that were being held in Switzerland."

This action represents Maduro's plans to protect Caracas against US-sponsored economic sanctions.

In addition, the militant points out that "The Times is a very serious newspaper," which would not only represent the interests of the British ruling class, but would publish something of the kind if it had no meaningful content.

"I think it's clear that the US is also involved," he said, recalling that on Nov. 1, US President Donald Trump specifically applied sanctions on exports of gold that was being mined from the south of the Latin American country .

"So it is only a fair supposition to think that this decision by the Bank of England to withhold Venezuelan gold reserves is related to these sanctions."

The activist concludes warning that soon other European countries could apply more restrictions to Caracas.