With Maduro desperately clinging to power in Venezuela - albeit protected by Russian "security contractors" - The Bank of England just 'virtue-signaled' another jab in the socialist utopia's back by confirming its refusal to hand over Venezuela's gold from its vaults.

Bloomberg reports that Maduro's embattled regime, desperate to hold onto the dwindling cash pile it has abroad, was stymied in its bid to pull $1.2 billion worth of gold out of the Bank of England, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Bank of England’s (BoE) decision to deny Maduro officials’ withdrawal request comes after top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, lobbied their U.K. counterparts to help cut off the regime from its overseas assets, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified.

Mike Krieger recently dug into the gold part of the Venezuelan coup saga. In case you forgot, Hugo Chavez didn’t make any friends in the empire back in 2011 when he repatriated around 160 tonnes of gold from banks in the United States and Europe. But the story doesn’t end there. As Reuters reports:

The government of Nicolas Maduro has since last year been seeking to repatriate about $550 million in gold from the Bank of England on fears it could be caught up in international sanctions on the country. Its holdings at the bank more than doubled in December to 31 tonnes, or around $1.3 billion, after Venezuela returned funds it had borrowed from Deutsche Bank AG through a financing arrangement that uses gold as collateral, known as a swap, one of the sources said. Venezuela last year started carrying out gold barter operations with Turkey to import food following U.S. sanctions that have made international banks reluctant to handle Venezuelan transactions. The motivation for paying back the funds from the Deutsche swap was not immediately evident. But redeeming the swap would give Venezuela more gold for barter operations with Turkey… Calixto Ortega, president of Venezuela’s central bank, met with Bank of England officials in December to discuss repatriating the gold but was unable to convince them, according to sources familiar with the situation.

As Krieger notes, it appears the U.S. does not take kindly to nations using gold for barter...

...and it appears The Bank of England has no intent to release any gold to any nation not deemed appropriate by Washington.

Back in November, the reason the BoE gave for its initial refusal to release was due to its insistence that standard measures to prevent money-laundering be taken - "including clarification of the Venezuelan government’s intentions for the gold."

Separately, as we reported previously an official told Reuters that the repatriation plan has been held up for nearly two months due to difficulty in obtaining insurance for the shipment, needed to move a large gold cargo:

As we reported, Venezuela’s gold located at the BoE was previously used as collateral until last year, backing loans up to several billion dollars from global banks - most notably Deutsche Bank.

As Reuters notes, Venezuelan holdings at the BoE more than doubled in December to 31 tonnes, or around $1.3 billion, after Venezuela returned funds it had borrowed from Deutsche Bank AG through a financing arrangement that uses gold as collateral, known as a swap, one of the sources said. Under the deal struck with Deutsche Bank in 2015, Venezuela put up 17 tonnes of gold in exchange for a loan, according to one of the sources who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. The motivation for paying back the funds from the Deutsche swap was not immediately evident. But redeeming the swap would give Venezuela more gold for barter operations with Turkey.

U.S. officials are now trying to steer Venezuela’s overseas assets to Guaido to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government. The $1.2 billion of gold is a big chunk of the $8 billion in foreign reserves held by the Venezuelan central bank. The whereabouts of much of it is unknown.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that officials at the central bank in Caracas have been ordered to no longer try contacting the Bank of England. These central bankers have been told that Bank of England staffers will not respond to them, citing compliance reasons, said a Venezuelan official, who asked not to be identified because he’s not authorized to speak publicly.

The Bank of England declined to comment on its handling of Venezuelan gold, saying it “provides banking services – including gold custody services – to a large number of customers” and “does not comment on any of those relationships.” The State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment and an NSC spokesman declined to comment. A press official for Maduro also declined to comment.

Finally, we note that Venezuela has made a concerted effort to become a major gold exporter, and is engaged in certifying some 32 gold fields, and building 54 processing plants in a bid to become what Maduro said would be "the second largest gold reserve on Earth."</s>Nicolas Maduro’s embattled Venezuelan regime, desperate to hold onto the dwindling cash pile it has abroad, was stymied in its bid to pull $1.2 billion worth of gold out of the Bank of England, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Bank of England’s decision to deny Maduro officials’ withdrawal request comes after top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Adviser John Bolton, lobbied their U.K. counterparts to help cut off the regime from its overseas assets, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified.

The U.K. followed the U.S. and other countries on Wednesday in recognizing Juan Guaido, the National Assembly leader, as the legitimate president of Maduro, an authoritarian ruler who’s overseen the country’s collapse into economic chaos, refuses to give up power, though, and has the backing of the The European Union threatened to recognize Guaido unless a “credible” presidential election is called with eight days, according to a draft statement seen by Bloomberg.

The U.S. officials are trying to steer Venezuela’s overseas assets to Guaido to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government. The $1.2 billion of gold is a big chunk of the $8 billion in foreign reserves held by the Venezuelan central bank. The whereabouts of the rest of them is largely unknown. Turkey, though, has emerged recently as a destination for freshly mined Venezuelan gold.

The U.S. is leading an effort to persuade -- a key Maduro backer, along with Russia and China -- to stop being a conduit for these gold shipments. Europe’s shift of position clarifies the battles lines over and aligns key powers such as Germany, France and more closely with the Trump administration.

Nicolas Maduro’s embattled Venezuelan regime, desperate to hold onto the dwindling cash pile it has abroad, was stymied in its bid to pull $1.2 billion worth of gold out of the Bank of England, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Bank of England’s decision to deny Maduro officials’ withdrawal request comes after top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Adviser John Bolton, lobbied their U.K. counterparts to help cut off the regime from its overseas assets, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified.

The U.K. followed the U.S. and other countries on Wednesday in recognizing Juan Guaido, the National Assembly leader, as the legitimate president of Maduro, an authoritarian ruler who’s overseen the country’s collapse into economic chaos, refuses to give up power, though, and has the backing of the The European Union threatened to recognize Guaido unless a “credible” presidential election is called with eight days, according to a draft statement seen by Bloomberg.

The U.S. officials are trying to steer Venezuela’s overseas assets to Guaido to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government. The $1.2 billion of gold is a big chunk of the $8 billion in foreign reserves held by the Venezuelan central bank. The whereabouts of the rest of them is largely unknown. Turkey, though, has emerged recently as a destination for freshly mined Venezuelan gold.

The U.S. is leading an effort to persuade -- a key Maduro backer, along with Russia and China -- to stop being a conduit for these gold shipments. Europe’s shift of position clarifies the international battles lines over Venezuela and aligns key powers such as Germany, France and more closely with the Trump administration.

“We want democracy and free in Venezuela,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday. “I want to state absolutely clearly that if within eight days, fair, free and transparent are not called in Venezuela, will recognize Juan Guaido as president.”

Retrieving the gold in the has been a major priority for the Maduro regime for weeks. Back in mid-December, Calixto Ortega, the president of Venezuela’s central bank, led a delegation to London that sought to gain access to it, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

But those talks were unsuccessful, and communications between the two sides have broken down since. Central bank officials in Caracas have been ordered to no longer try contacting the These have been told that staffers will not respond to them, citing compliance reasons, said a Venezuelan official, who asked not to be identified.

The Bank of England declined to comment on its handling of Venezuelan assets, saying it “provides banking services – including gold custody services – to a large number of customers” and “does not comment on any of those relationships.”

When asked about the fate of Venezuelan assets abroad Friday, Pompeo declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the Council. The Treasury released a statement saying that the U.S. “will use its economic and diplomatic tools to ensure that commercial transactions by the Venezuelan Government, including those involving its state-owned enterprises and international reserves, are consistent with” its recognition of Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela.

A press official for Maduro declined to comment.

Gold has formed a crucial part of Venezuela’s foreign reserves for years. Hugo Chavez, the late socialist leader and mentor to Maduro, plowed much of the country’s oil wealth into gold in part because of his disdain for the U.S. dollar. In 2011, Chavez ordered the repatriation of $11 billion worth of gold bars from the Bank of England and other foreign institutions. As Venezuela fell deeper into economic crisis years later, though, the Maduro regime began selling them off to raise the cash it desperately needed to fund imports and to try, unsuccessfully, to avoid defaulting on its foreign debt.

"The first rule of business as we speak is to stop the Maduro government from liquidating international assets of the country and steal them," Ricardo Hausmann, a Harvard professor and long-time critic of Maduro who’s been speaking with Guaido, said in an interview Friday.</s>The Bank of England has cut off access to $1.2 billion of Venezuela’s gold assets from the regime of Nicolás Maduro, sources have told Bloomberg.

The British central bank halted the regime’s accessing the $1.2bn (£910 million) after U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo had allegedly lobbied their UK counterparts to deny Maduro access to his overseas assets, people familiar with the situation told the broadcaster.

The funds represent a part of the some $8bn (£6.06bn) held in foreign reserves by the Venezuelan central bank. It is believed, according to Bloomberg, that in mid-December the president of Venezuela’s central bank, Calixto Ortega, led a delegation to London to access the gold reserves but was unsuccessful.

The Bank of England did not return comment on whether the Maduro regime had been cut off from Venezuela’s British-held assets, but told Bloomberg the central bank “provides banking services – including gold custody services – to a large number of customers” and that it “does not comment on any of those relationships.”

On Wednesday, the U.S. recognised National Assembly leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president.

President Donald J. Trump said the Venezuelan National Assembly, a unicameral government body, was the “only legitimate branch of government” remaining in the country, adding, “The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law.”

The United Kingdom recognised Mr Guaido as interim president shortly thereafter. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said ahead of a meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Pompeo on Thursday, “We are extremely concerned about the situation in Venezuela, but it is clear that Nicolás Maduro is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela.

“The election on 20th May was deeply flawed; ballot boxes were stuffed, there were counting irregularities and the opposition was banned. This regime has done untold damage to the people of Venezuela, 10% of the population have left Venezuela such is the misery they are suffering.

“So the United Kingdom believes Juan Guaido is the right person to take Venezuela forward. We are supporting the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Argentina to make that happen.”

The UK has so far been the only European Union nation to back the U.S., Canada, and most of South America in backing Mr Guaido.

While stressing its support for public protest against socialist former President Maduro, the progressive, left-wing bloc has stopped short of recognising Mr Guaido as interim leader, calling instead for fresh elections.

“The EU strongly calls for the start of an immediate political process leading to free and credible elections, in conformity with the Constitutional order,” Brussels policy chief Federica Mogherini said.</s>(Bloomberg) -- Nicolas Maduro’s embattled Venezuelan regime, desperate to hold onto the dwindling cash pile it has abroad, was stymied in its bid to pull $1.2 billion worth of gold out of the Bank of England, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Bank of England’s decision to deny Maduro officials’ withdrawal request comes after top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, lobbied their U.K. counterparts to help cut off the regime from its overseas assets, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified.

The U.K. followed the U.S. and other countries on Wednesday in recognizing Juan Guaido, the National Assembly leader, as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Maduro, an authoritarian ruler who’s overseen the country’s collapse into economic chaos, refuses to give up power, though, and has the backing of the military.

The U.S. officials are now trying to steer Venezuela’s overseas assets to Guaido to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government. The $1.2 billion of gold is a big chunk of the $8 billion in foreign reserves held by the Venezuelan central bank. The whereabouts of much of it is unknown.

Meanwhile, officials at the central bank in Caracas have been ordered to no longer try contacting the Bank of England. These central bankers have been told that Bank of England staffers will not respond to them, citing compliance reasons, said a Venezuelan official, who asked not to be identified because he’s not authorized to speak publicly.

The Bank of England declined to comment on its handling of Venezuelan gold, saying it “provides banking services – including gold custody services – to a large number of customers” and “does not comment on any of those relationships.” The State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment and an NSC spokesman declined to comment. A press official for Maduro also declined to comment.

--With assistance from Eric Martin, Alex Vasquez, Fabiola Zerpa, Jillian Ward and Nick Wadhams.

To contact the reporters on this story: Patricia Laya in Caracas at playa2@bloomberg.net;Ethan Bronner in New York at ebronner@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net, ;Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Patricia Laya

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com</s>Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>US officials are trying to steer Venezuela's overseas assets to Mr Guaido to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government.

NICOLAS Maduro's embattled Vene-zuelan regime, desperate to hold onto the dwindling cash pile it has abroad, was stymied in its bid to pull US$1.2 billion worth of gold out of the Bank of England, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Bank of England's decision to deny Mr Maduro officials' withdrawal request comes after top US officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, lobbied their UK counterparts to help cut off the regime from its overseas assets, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified.

The UK followed the US and other countries last week in recognising Juan Guaido, the National Assembly leader, as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Mr Maduro, an authoritarian ruler who has overseen the country's collapse into economic chaos, refuses to give up power, though, and has the backing of the military. The European Union has threatened to recognise Mr Guaido unless a "credible" presidential election is called within eight days, according to a draft statement seen by Bloomberg.

The US officials are trying to steer Venezuela's overseas assets to Mr Guaido to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government. The US$1.2 billion of gold is a big chunk of the US$8 billion in foreign reserves held by the Venezuelan central bank. The whereabouts of the rest of them is largely unknown. Turkey, though, has emerged recently as a destination for freshly mined Venezuelan gold.

The US is leading an international effort to persuade Turkey - a key Maduro backer, along with Russia and China - to stop being a conduit for these gold shipments. Europe's shift of position clarifies the international battles lines over Venezuela and aligns key powers such as Germany, France and Spain more closely with the Trump administration.

"We want democracy and free elections in Venezuela," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday. "I want to state absolutely clearly that if within eight days, fair, free and transparent elections are not called in Venezuela, Spain will recognise Juan Guaido as president."

Retrieving the gold in the Bank of England has been a major priority for the Maduro regime for weeks. Back in mid-December, Calixto Ortega, the president of Venezuela's central bank, led a delegation to London that sought to gain access to it, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

But those talks were unsuccessful, and communications between the two sides have broken down since. Central bank officials in Caracas have been ordered to no longer try contacting the Bank of England. These central bankers have been told that Bank of England staffers will not respond to them, citing compliance reasons, said a Venezuelan official, who asked not to be identified.

The Bank of England declined to comment on its handling of Vene-zuelan assets, saying that it "provides banking services - including gold custody services - to a large number of customers" and "does not comment on any of those relationships".

When asked about the fate of Venezuelan assets abroad on Friday, Mr Pompeo declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the National Security Council. The Treasury released a statement saying that the US "will use its economic and diplomatic tools to ensure that commercial transactions by the Venezuelan Government, including those involving its state-owned enterprises and international reserves, are consistent with" its recognition of Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela.

A press official for Mr Maduro declined to comment.

Gold has formed a crucial part of Venezuela's foreign reserves for years. Hugo Chavez, the late socialist leader and mentor to Mr Maduro, ploughed much of the country's oil wealth into gold in part because of his disdain for the US dollar.

In 2011, Mr Chavez ordered the repatriation of US$11 billion worth of gold bars from the Bank of England and other foreign institutions. As Venezuela fell deeper into economic crisis years later, though, the Maduro regime began selling them off to raise the cash it desperately needed to fund imports and to try, unsuccessfully, to avoid defaulting on its foreign debt.

"The first rule of business as we speak is to stop the Maduro government from liquidating international assets of the country and steal them," Ricardo Hausmann, a Harvard economics professor and long-time critic of Mr Maduro who's been speaking with Mr Guaido, said. BLOOMBERG</s>Britain rejected Venezuela’s request to withdraw $1.2bn in gold stored in the UK, according to reports. It was enough for the self-declared and US-backed ‘president’, Juan Guaido, to support the alleged move.

The Bank of England blocked Venezuela’s attempts to retrieve $1.2 billion worth of gold stored as the nation’s foreign reserves in Britain, sources told Bloomberg on Friday.

According to the media outlet, officials in Caracas have for weeks been trying to withdraw the gold, with Calixto Ortega, the head of Venezuela’s central bank, traveling to London in mid-December to seek access to the nation’s assets.

The talks were “unsuccessful,” as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the national security advisor to President Donald Trump, John Bolton, pressured their British counterparts to freeze the Venezuelan assets, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

By some estimates, Venezuela holds more than $8 billion in foreign reserves. According to earlier reports, the amount of Venezuelan gold kept in the Bank of England doubled in recent months, growing from 14 to 31 tons.

The South American nation has reportedly experienced problems in extracting its own gold from the Bank of England in the past. Bankers in Britain were allegedly concerned that Venezuelan officials would sell the state-owned gold “for personal gain.”

The Bank of England, along with press officials for Pompeo and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, declined to comment.

Despite the fact that the story was not confirmed, the alleged move of the British bank was swiftly praised by the self-proclaimed ‘interim president’ of Venezuela. “The process of protecting the assets of Venezuela has begun,” Juan Guaido tweeted.

“We will not allow more abuse and theft of money intended for food, medicine and the future of our children.”

Guaido, the speaker of the national parliament, declared himself ‘interim president’ of the state earlier with week in opposition to Maduro. He was subsequently recognized as the “legitimate” leader of Venezuela by the US, Canada, and the majority of South American nations.

Maduro was backed by states like Mexico, Russia, China, and Turkey. He slammed the US for endorsing Guaido, ordering its diplomats to leave the county.

Moscow said it will continue to recognize Maduro as the sole democratically-elected leader of the country and called on others to not allow “destructive foreign interference” in Venezuelan affairs.

Venezuela has seen a series of large-scale anti-government protests in recent years. Some of them spiraled into riots and clashes with police. Nicolas Maduro blasted “foreign interference” as a source behind the unrest, while in particular accusing US officials of endorsing the rallies and Washington of planning to overthrow him. The anti-government protests were met with counter-demonstrations by Maduro supporters.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!</s>The U.S. officials are trying to steer Venezuela's

Nicolas Maduro's embattled Venezuelan regime, desperate to hold onto the dwindling cash pile it has abroad, was stymied in its bid to pull $1.2 billion worth of gold out of the Bank of England, according to people familiar with the matter.The Bank of England's decision to deny Maduro officials' withdrawal request comes after, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified., the National Assembly leader, as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Maduro, an authoritarian ruler who's overseen the country's collapse into economic chaos, refuses to give up power , though, and has the backing of the military. The European Union threatened to recognize Guaido unless a "credible" presidential election is called with eight days, according to a draft statement seen by Bloomberg.to help bolster his chances of effectively taking control of the government.The whereabouts of the rest of them is largely unknown. Turkey, though, has emerged recently as a destination for freshly mined Venezuelan gold.The U.S. is leading an international effort to persuade Turkey -- a key Maduro backer, along with Russia and China -- to stop being a conduit for these gold shipments.Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday. "I want to state absolutely clearly that if within eight days, fair, free and transparent elections are not called in Venezuela, Spain will recognize Juan Guaido as president."Retrieving the gold in the Bank of England has been a major priority for the Maduro regime for weeks. Back in mid-December, Calixto Ortega, the president of Venezuela's central bank, led a delegation to London that sought to gain access to it, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.But those talks were unsuccessful, and communications between the two sides have broken down since. Central bank officials in Caracas have been ordered to no longer try contacting the Bank of England. These central bankers have been told that, citing compliance reasons, said a Venezuelan official, who asked not to be identified.The Bank of England declined to comment on its handling of Venezuelan assets, saying it "provides banking services - including gold custody services - to a large number of customers" and "does not comment on any of those relationships."When asked about the fate of Venezuelan assets abroad Friday,The Treasury released a statement saying that the U.S. "will use its economic and diplomatic tools to ensure that commercial transactions by the Venezuelan Government, including those involving its state-owned enterprises and international reserves, are consistent with" its recognition of Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela.A press official for Maduro declined to comment.Gold has formed a crucial part of Venezuela's foreign reserves for years.In 2011, Chavez ordered the repatriation of $11 billion worth of gold bars from the Bank of England and other foreign institutions. As Venezuela fell deeper into economic crisis years later, though, the Maduro regime began selling them off to raise the cash it desperately needed to fund imports and to try, unsuccessfully, to avoid defaulting on its foreign debt."The first rule of business as we speak is to stop the Maduro government from liquidating international assets of the country and steal them," Ricardo Hausmann, a Harvard economics professor and long-time critic of Maduro who's been speaking with Guaido, said in an interview Friday.</s>Gold has formed a crucial part of Venezuela’s foreign reserves for years. Hugo Chavez, the late socialist leader and mentor to Maduro, ploughed much of the country’s oil wealth into gold in part because of his disdain for the US dollar. In 2011, Chavez ordered the repatriation of $11 billion worth of gold bars from the Bank of England and other foreign institutions. As Venezuela fell deeper into economic crisis years later, though, the Maduro regime began selling them off to raise the cash it desperately needed to fund imports and to try, unsuccessfully, to avoid defaulting on its foreign debt.</s>
The Bank of England blocks Maduro's officials from withdrawing $1.2 billion worth of gold.