Posted on 09/29/2026 3:05:47 PM PDT by delta7
In early March, as President Trump basked in the success of a military intervention in Venezuela, he joined Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in the West Wing for a private celebration. A businessman also attended, and brought along a pile of gold.
The president looked approvingly at the 10 Venezuelan gold bars stacked in the Roosevelt Room, across from the Oval Office, White House officials recalled. Aides took photos and joked about keeping the gold.
Mr. Trump himself had once blacklisted Venezuelan gold, declaring that it destroyed the environment, poisoned people and financed gangsters and corrupt military officials. But after Mr. Trump toppled the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, his view changed.
On the same day that the bars arrived at the White House, the Trump administration issued a new policy allowing traders to import Venezuelan gold from one of the world's most violent and corrupt mining regions. The first supplies would come from a state-owned mining company that remained a designated U.S. national security threat.
"Usually, you have to be in the Olympics to bring back the gold," Mr. Burgum later said at an energy conference, regaling listeners with the tale of how he had opened Venezuela's gold pipeline.
The gold trading deal exemplified how Mr. Trump used the capture of Mr. Maduro to gain control of Venezuela's resources. First, he took charge of Venezuela's oil exports. Next, his administration turned to Venezuela's mineral wealth.
That included one of the world's largest untapped gold reserves at a time when the prices were near record highs and buyers were hungry for it.
The Trump administration and its business allies said that gold sales would benefit the U.S. economy; help develop Venezuela's mining region; and deprive criminals and corrupt officials of income.
But a New York Times investigation, from the mines of southern Venezuela to the White House to the trading houses of Europe, found that Mr. Trump aligned America with an industry that is still plagued by the very criminality that he said he was fighting by arresting Mr. Maduro.
Planes carried gold out of Venezuela before companies had even visited the mines. Some of that gold, The Times found, is linked to miners who pay gang protection money. That allows criminals to profit from the administration's signature deal.
And American financiers are investing in a mine tied to gangsters as part of a deal brokered by the Trump administration.
Venezuelan gold had once benefited American adversaries like Iran. Mr. Trump sought to redirect it to the United States to be refined.
But partly as a consequence of the administration's hasty approach, all that gold -- hundreds of millions of dollars' worth -- sits untouched in warehouses, according to three people with knowledge of the shipments. Refiners would need to guarantee, under international rules, that the gold has not funded gangs, environmental destruction or corruption. ...
... For the remainder of the report:
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Unlike our big pharma gold from selling pain killers and covid shots to the govt.....no gang racket activity there.
No poor wages paid to Americans for 30 hours a week, 4 hours a shift ...without health care.
Why does the thesis sentence appear at the end of the story? The writing style these days is all about clicks and dwell time, sheesh.
Yeah, I trust the news source. /s
It could be gold doré bars that need additional refining.
GATA promotes gold ownership by claiming central banks suppress its price, arguing that exposing this will drive prices higher and urging investors to buy physical gold and mining shares—while funding its campaign through donations from the metals industry and gold holders.
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I’ve noticed this trend with PM advocates.
Anytime they’re going up “it’s time to buy” when they’re going down a conspiracy by bankers is to blame.
My answer to them is very simple:
If the bankers have that much control over PMs, maybe look at some other investment opportunities instead of being locked into “dogma investing.”
If the bankers have that much control over PMs, maybe look at some other investment opportunities instead of being locked into “dogma investing.”True especially when this happens while the gold price is on a downward trajectory from an all-time high.
And now that it no longer benefits our adversaries like Iran, the New York Times is upset about it. Only now. Amazing, the Times finally notices that the reason Iran [and Putin, the cartels, and Cuba, and China] were so interested in Venezuela [and Lula’s Brazil]… was the resources in that area. Those mining operations could produce more than gold.
Why are you worrying about gold? You have oatmeal, black bread and vodka. Everything you need. There is no need to concern yourself with matters of state
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