Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez said Wednesday she had begun direct international efforts to recover frozen Venezuelan assets and use them to respond to the disaster. Photo by Ivan Cardenas/EPA
July 9 (UPI) — Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez said she will send a formal letter to King Charles III, seeking release of the country’s gold reserves at the Bank of England, asserting the assets are needed to finance recovery efforts after the deadly June 24 earthquakes.
During a videoconference Wednesday with officials overseeing 87 temporary camps established for earthquake survivors, Rodríguez said she had begun direct international efforts to recover frozen Venezuelan assets and use them to respond to the disaster.
“That gold belongs to our people and should be used to address the terrible, tragic consequences of these twin earthquakes,” Rodríguez said, according to TeleSur.
She also renewed calls for an end to sanctions against Venezuela, arguing the country has financial resources frozen abroad that could be used to fund reconstruction after the disaster, which has killed 3,800 people.
In addition to appealing directly to the British monarch, Rodríguez said she is also in talks with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
She said the goal is to unlock about $3.568 billion in Special Drawing Rights held by Venezuela at the IMF.
Venezuela’s gold reserves remain in custody at the Bank of England. According to Deutsche Welle, U.K. courts previously rejected transferring control of the assets to Nicolás Maduro’s administration after determining it was not the country’s legitimate government.
Rodríguez became interim president in January after Maduro was captured by U.S. military forces.
Separately, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Iván Gil called Wednesday for the release of Venezuelan state assets frozen abroad during a virtual meeting with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“We have accounts belonging to the Venezuelan state in different parts of the world that have been frozen as a result of illegal sanctions,” Gil said, according to NTV24.
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, who is in Venezuela, said the scale of the disaster prompted the United Nations to launch an urgent appeal for $296 million to support relief operations after the earthquakes.
According to multiple media reports, tracked international financial assistance pledged or delivered to Venezuela has exceeded $600 million through multiple donors and aid channels.
The U.S. State Department said it has committed more than $386 million in direct humanitarian assistance. The aid includes more than 400 metric tons of supplies, including hygiene kits, emergency shelter materials and food.
The assistance is being distributed through the Red Cross, UNICEF and the U.N. World Food Program rather than through Venezuela’s central government.
Despite those contributions, the financial challenge remains immense. U.N. estimates place total physical damage to homes, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure at about $37 billion, meaning the international aid received so far covers only the initial emergency response, including medical care and temporary shelter for displaced residents.