Switzerland was an ally of Hugo Chávez, and had advised him for the composition of his Constitution. Fearing that he would be unable to refine his country’s
gold in Switzerland, Nicolas Maduro looked to Turkey, which transformed the raw material into
bullion. In the past, this
gold had remained in Swiss banks as a guarantee for oil contracts. From now on,
the liquid assets were transferred to Turkey, while the newly treated
gold returned to Venezuela. This orientation may be interpreted as being no longer founded on ideology, but on interest. Everything depends on who benefits.
Simultaneously, Venezuela became the target of a destabilisation campaign which began with the
guarimbas demonstrations, continued with the attempted coup d’etat on 12 February 2015 (« Operation Jericho »), then by a series of attacks on the national currency, and organised emigration. In this context,
Turkey offered Venezuela the possibility of avoiding US sanctions. The exchanges between the two countries multiplied fifteen-fold in 2018.
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