The President of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), Calixto Ortega, showed this diplomatic correspondence exclusively to Bloomberg News, from the city of Paris, while returning to the Venezuelan capital from London. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously delivered the letters to the head of the Monetary Authority.
Ortega was in the UK in the days prior to addressing the issue of gold and Venezuelan state property valued at more than $1 billion deposited in the vaults of the Bank of England. Not only have these reserves been held illegally for months, but a British judiciary last week ordered them to hand over their control to Juan Guaido, who is not an elected authority in Venezuela. The Venezuelan legal team is preparing to appeal this ruling, which it considers arbitrary.
In the first message, Queen Maduro informed of the change of representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in Caracas. In the second, he asks the chief to adopt a new one. The third served writing to the president on behalf of the government of Saint Lucia. In all three elements, the title clearly states: “His Excellency Nicolás Maduro Moros, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
Main resources in gold litigation
Calixto Ortega confirmed to the aforementioned American media that this resource, which is the source of the letters that Queen Elizabeth II addressed to Maduro, will be used by the executive branch as evidence in her favour, in litigation to recover the gold.
“Three letters signed by the Queen constitute an official position,” Ortega said from Paris.
“What is at stake here is London’s reputation as the most neutral and reliable place to do business in the world,” Ortega added. “They say something in court, and in fact, they act differently.”
He also commented that the UK government has granted visas to Maduro officials and this is further evidence of the Maduro government’s recognition. For example, he showed his own diplomatic passport, with eight visas issued by the UK authorities since June 2018. Similarly, the British Chargé d’Affairs in Venezuela requested an entry visa from the Maduro government in 2021 and it was granted.
These assets, in gold, which England stole from Venezuela, make up about one-fifth of the international reserves of the South American country of $5,200 million.
This week, President Maduro, in a public address, described London’s actions as an act of “brazen and outrageous robbery and hacking”.
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