The increasingly chaotic and violent situation that is unfolding in Venezuela is prompting Trump administration officials and those in Congress to issue warnings of the increasing likelihood of theft and illegal transfer of all types of valuable Venezuelan-owned assets.
On Thursday, Senator Marco Rubio issued a comment via his Twitter account that identified Noor Capital, a financial firm based in the United Arab Emirates as attempting to facilitate a gold transaction with Venezuelan authorities. Rubio warned any firm or airline that facilitates the transfer of gold from Venezuela will be subject to U.S. Treasury sanctions.
National Security Adviser John Bolton also took to Twitter and directed his comments toward the financial and investment industry- “My advice to bankers, brokers, traders, facilitators, and other businesses: don’t deal in gold, oil, or other Venezuelan commodities being stolen from the Venezuelan people by the Maduro mafia.’’
Juan Guaido, the head of Venezuela’s opposition-led National Assembly and the country’s interim president, has stressed his commitment to safeguard what's left of Venezuela’s valuable remaining assets that can be used to fund the flow of humanitarian aid into the country, but it's unclear at this juncture just how much influence and authority Guaido has over this process.
Guaido has stated that he intends to ignore a Maduro-imposed ban on accepting foreign relief assistance aid by sending large convoys of medicine throughout Venezuela country with the assistance of other countries in the region.
Will a few more key Venezuelan generals abandon Maduro? They're about all that stands between him and exile to an upscale villa in Bolivia.
