BoE venezuela 15 August min

Rock Around The Blockade is co-hosting this event organised by our sister campaign, Viva Venezuela!

Protest at the Bank of England, London, 12pm-2pm on 15 August 2020. Facebook event here.

Breaking international law but in total alignment with Britain's piratical imperialism, London's High Court of Justice on 2 July ruled against the repatriation of 31 tonnes of Venezuela's gold destined to be used for emergency Covid-19 provisions. The Bank of England claims to be free from political influence, but the British government has already expressed its intention to 'freeze Venezuelan gold deposits' in collaboration with US imperialist economic warfare against Venezuela. US and EU sanctions have undermined Venezuela's currency, costing an estimated 100,000 human lives due to the difficulty of importing essential medicines, and economic damage of $194 billion between 2016 and 2019.

The legal, popular and democratically elected PSUV government of Venezuela, led by President Nicolas Maduro, demanded the gold be released and stipulated that the funds would be transferred to the United Nations Development Programme for the direct import of food, medicine and healthcare materials. The British government, High Court and Bank of England are deliberately undermining the fight against Covid-19 in Latin America for the sake of their barbaric pursuit of ruling class interests. They seek to hand control of the gold to the corrupt US lackey Juan Guaido, who declared himself 'interim president' of Venezuela but has absolutely no constitutional basis for this claim. Guaido has illegally attempted to organise violent coups against the Maduro government, supported by the sell-out Venezuelan right-wing but totally rejected by the mass of Venezuela's working class.

Through a combination of international cooperation, lock-down, systematic testing and treatment, registered Covid-19 deaths in Venezuela stood at 93 at the end of July, significantly lower than the hellish death-tolls of Brazil and other neighbours, and no thanks to the efforts of Guaido's coup plotters. If Venezuela is to emerge victorious from the pandemic it is crucial that anti-imperialists around the globe step up the pressure against these illegal sanctions. Return Venezuela's gold! Down with British, EU and US imperialism! Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution!