As gold trade booms, Venezuela eyes stronger Turkey ties

Source:al Jazeera Date:22Jan2019

However, it is the gold trade with Turkey that has caught the eye, with US officials claiming some of the proceeds may be being funnelled to Iran, another Maduro backer, in breach of sanctions.

“We are tracking large purchases of gold in Turkey these days and we’re trying to understand why that’s happening,” Marshall Billingslea, assistant US treasury secretary for terrorist financing, said during a visit to Ankara in July.

The gold trade between Turkey and Venezuela has been likened to the Turkey-Iran exchange in the 2000s when Ankara helped evade US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.