'Huge victory,' says Guaido after UK court recognises him as Venezuela's president in gold dispute
Record ID:
1560373
'Huge victory,' says Guaido after UK court recognises him as Venezuela's president in gold dispute
- Title: 'Huge victory,' says Guaido after UK court recognises him as Venezuela's president in gold dispute
- Date: 2nd July 2020
- Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JULY 2, 2020) (REUTERS VIA ZOOM) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER JUAN GUAIDO, SAYING: "It is a great victory in the international judicial field for the rule of law, for political, diplomatic and now judicial recognition of the government in charge. Rescue the issue of the separation of powers, which is not just a political and diplomatic issue. This reinforces recognition. I am asked what would happen to the gold. Firstly, the gold is protected, it will be far from the grip of the dictatorship, which we already know what it has done with the gold before. The most recent thing they did (Venezuela's government) was to buy gasoline from Iran allegedly with gold from the mining reserves and from the reserves of Venezuela. They have been using the reserves to finance imports. So, the gold is protected from Maduro's clutches and his environment."
- Embargoed: 16th July 2020 23:35
- Keywords: English High Court Venezuela gold reserves opposition leader Juan Guaido
- Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002CL4C1TZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Thursday (July 2) the British recognition of him as Venezuela's president is a "huge victory" to contribute to the protection of country's resources "from the clutches of the corrupt dictatorship."
Britain has recognised Guaido as the country's president, the English High Court ruled on Thursday, in a case over whether Guaido or Nicolas Maduro should control $1 billion of its gold stored in London.
The British government in early 2019 joined dozens of nations in backing Guaido, head of Venezuela's opposition-controlled congress after he declared an interim presidency and denounced Maduro as an usurper.
Guaido, at the time, asked the Bank of England to prevent Maduro's government from accessing the gold, which the opposition claims Maduro wants to use to pay off his foreign allies.
In May, Maduro's central bank (BCV) sued the Bank of England to recover control, saying it was depriving the BCV of funds needed to finance Venezuela's coronavirus response.
The Bank of England then asked the court to determine who the British government recognized as Venezuela's president.
High Court judge Nigel Teare handed down a judgement ruling that Britain had "unequivocally" recognised Guaido as constitutional interim president.
Over the past two years, Maduro's government has removed some 30 tonnes of gold from its reserves in Venezuela to sell abroad for much-needed hard currency.
(Production: Efrain Otero, Liamar Ramos) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None