U.S. Sanctions Venezuelan Gold Company for Supporting Maduro

Mar 19 2019, 2:30 PMMar 19 2019, 3:06 PMMarch 19 2019, 2:30 PMMarch 19 2019, 3:06 PM

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s Minerven state gold mining company which it says illicitly props up the regime of President Nicolas Maduro.

Minerven, whose full name is Compania General de Mineria de Venezuela CA, and its president, Adrian Antonio Perdomo Mata, are now designated under the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, meaning their property and assets in the U.S. are blocked and all U.S. citizens are barred from dealing with them. Anyone doing business with them could also face U.S. actions.

This is the sixth round of sanctions since January by the U.S., which is seeking to wrest power and the military’s loyalty away from Maduro and toward interim President Juan Guaido. Persuading the military has been a central challenge in the two months since Guaido, with U.S. backing, declared himself interim leader.

“The regime has apportioned responsibility for oversight of gold extraction to select military officers who take their cut,” Marshall Billingslea, assistant secretary for terrorist financing at Treasury, said in an interview. “As oil production has plummeted, they have turned to gold trade as a final frontier for their kleptocratic activities. The money Maduro has generated is used to purchase loyalty. Outside of buying loyalty, he certainly doesn’t command respect.”