By Tony Burke

On 24th June, two massive earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude struck within seconds of each other just off the northern coast of Venezuela. The devastation has been catastrophic. As of 20th July, the death toll is over 5,000. More than 16,700 people have been injured, and over 21,000 are now living in temporary camps.

The United Nations estimates the cost of reconstruction to be approximately $37 billion (around $24 billion in damage to buildings – homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and public facilities – and another $13 billion in infrastructure.  This is equivalent to around 33 per cent of Venezuela’s GDP. Venezuela’s economy was already facing serious challenges due to decades of brutal sanctions: Mark Weisbrot of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) has documented a 74 per cent decline in GDP between 2012 and 2020 – a loss of income three times larger than what the United States experienced during the Great Depression.

The world has reacted with great shock and sympathy to the devastation caused by this earthquake, and countries around the world have sent aid and technical support. Rescue teams from multiple nations have been deployed, with 2,278 foreign rescue workers now on the ground.

While this immediate assistance is necessary and useful, what Venezuela really needs is to be able to access its own resources and trade normally with the rest of the world. This is impossible with the wide-ranging sanctions (only a fraction of which have been temporarily lifted) and asset freezes that remain in place.

The most glaring example of this injustice is the 31 tonnes of Venezuelan gold sitting in the Bank of England. Worth approximately £3.5 billion at current prices, this gold has been frozen since 2019, when the British government followed the US’s attempt at a coup in Venezuela by recognising Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s president. British courts have repeatedly rejected the Venezuelan government’s requests to access its own reserves.

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has now formally requested the release of the gold. Her message was simple: “That gold belongs to our people. We need this gold to deal with the consequences of the earthquake.”

Venezuela also has around $4.5bn in assets frozen by the IMF, and billions more frozen from the earnings of CITGO, the US-based branch of its oil company PDVSA as well as in various other international accounts. Meanwhile, the total offered in aid is well under $1bn. The gap between what Venezuela is being offered as charity and what it has been denied is obscene.

This is an issue of sovereignty as well as humanity. Six months after US forces illegally attacked Caracas, killed around 100 people and kidnapped Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump is using both military threats and economic levers to pressure Venezuela. At this critical time it’s vital that those who stand for sovereignty oppose these threats and support Venezuela having access to its own assets so it can stand on its own feet.

More than 14,000 people have now signed a petition demanding Britain return the gold. MPs including Richard Burgon, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell have all spoken out. Burgon, who has also initiated an Early Day Motion on the issue, said that “at a time of such profound human suffering, every available resource should be directed towards humanitarian relief and reconstruction in Venezuela”. McDonnell called returning the gold “one of the most effective measures the UK government could undertake” to help Venezuela. Abbott said Britain “continues to illegally withhold the country’s gold reserves when all its resources are urgently needed.”

They are right.

This is not a complex issue. A country has been devastated by its worst natural disaster in decades. It has billions of pounds of its own money sitting in a British vault. That money could be used to fund vital reconstruction. Instead, it sits there while Venezuela grapples with both the earthquake and decades of cruel sanctions.

The British government under the new leadership of Andy Burnham has a choice. It can continue to play politics with other people’s lives, or it can do the decent thing and give Venezuela back what is rightfully theirs.

Tony Burke is Venezuela Solidarity Campaign Chair and former Unite the Union Assistant General Secretary.

SIGN NOW: Give Venezuela Back Its Gold!

ONLINE EVENT TONIGHT: Emergency in Venezuela – End all sanctions, give back the gold!

Register here  Tuesday July 28th • 6:30 PM • Online 
Spread the word – share on Insta here, X here & FB here
 
With Venezuelan speakers:

• Fravia Marquez, advisor to Venezuela’s National Assembly & spokesperson for the Cumbé Afro-Descendant Movement
• Gerdul Gutierrez, Secretary of International Relations of the CSBT (Venezuela’s TUC)
• María Páez Victor, Venezuelan Sociologist

Plus: Jeremy Corbyn MP, Francisco Dominguez (VSC) & Kate Hudson (CND). Chair: Jayne Fisher (VSC EC)

Hosted by the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign. Free event but solidarity donations here essential to covering room hire costs.