US shuffles sanctioning Spain for funds Venezuela has in the Bank of Spain - La Provincia
The US Department of the Treasury is considering sanctioning Spain for the fwaves that the Government of Venezuelahave deposited in theBank of Spain,as published by 'Bloomberg' this Thursday.
Specifically, the sources consulted by the US agency ensure that several senior positions of the Administration of Donald Trump they are pressing for sanctions against Spain to pass for, they claim, to be providing economic support to the regime ofNicolás Maduro.
In addition to addressing the Bank of Spain, the sanctions would also aim at other entities where Venezuelan money is deposited.
According to the information published, the special representative of the United States for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams recently met with the Spanish authorities in Madrid, although at no time were the sanctions dealt with. However, Abrams did press for the Executive ofPedro Sanchez will take more concrete measures against Venezuelan money, including the freezing of all assets in Spain related to the Maduro regime.
However, the Spanish authorities replied that banks and the Bank of Spain itself would limit themselves to their usual work of monitoring capital flows to prevent money laundering.
A US official in favor of the sanctions cited by 'Bloomberg' said Madrid is as guilty of helping Maduro as Russia or China. He also stressed that the acting president, Pedro Sánchez, is directly responsible for theEuropean Union Do not retaliate against the Venezuelan regime.
The members of the Trump Administration against the sanctions defend that Spain recognized Juan Guaidó as legitimate president, as well as that the Spanish embassy in Caracas is currently the residence of the Venezuelan opponentLeopoldo López.
The Bank of Spain denied last September"any irregularity"in the use of the account of the Central Bank of Venezuela, whose operation is "very small, both in number of operations and in its amount, and does not show significant variations in recent years."
The body chaired by Pablo Hernández de Cos responded in this way to other information published by 'Bloomberg' in which it was pointed out that the Maduro regime is using the Bank of Spain to make payments to suppliers abroad and thus avoid the sanctions imposed by Washington.
