*BREAKING: VENEZUELA’S GOLD DRAIN EXPOSED 🚨*
New customs data shows that *Venezuela shipped about *113 metric tons* of central‑bank gold — worth roughly *5.2 billion — to Switzerland between 2013 and 2016** during the early years of Nicolás Maduro’s presidency as the economy collapsed and foreign reserves dried up. [1]
📦 *The scale of the outflow:*
• 113 metric tons sent to Swiss refineries 🇨🇭
• 4.14 billion Swiss francs (5.2 billion) in value
• Origin: Venezuela’s central bank reserves
• Timeframe: 2013–2016, before EU sanctions tightened in 2017–2018. [1]
📉 *Why it happened:*
As Venezuela’s economy spiraled amid plunging oil revenues, hyperinflation, and restricted access to international financing, authorities sold or transferred gold abroad to raise hard currency and support government spending. The gold was sent to Switzerland — a major global hub for refining, certification, and trading — where it could be processed into internationally tradable “Good Delivery” bars and monetized.
🛑 What changed:*
Gold exports to Switzerland *essentially stopped after 2017* once sanctions tied to alleged human‑rights abuses and democratic undermining were adopted by the EU and later mirrored by Swiss regulations, and the nation’s gold reserves were significantly depleted. [3]
Why this matters now:*
This was *not routine trade* — it was a forced liquidation of strategic state reserves under duress. The sale of gold to finance government operations amid economic collapse raises lingering questions:
• Who ultimately benefited from these transfers?
• Where did the proceeds actually go?
• How much of Venezuela’s remaining reserves have been lost or leveraged as collateral?
These unresolved questions are returning to the spotlight amid renewed international scrutiny following Maduro’s arrest and asset freezes in Switzerland, making this a *significant geopolitical and economic story* with implications for markets, sovereign wealth tracking, and future asset repatriation efforts.
