English court prevents Maduro from holding $ 1 billion of Venezuelan gold

The Nicolás Maduro administration has been told it cannot access the $ 1 billion gold that Venezuela has stored at the Bank of England because Britain does not recognize Maduro as the country’s president. Maduro’s administration launched legal action against the bank to try to force it to release the gold while struggling for cash. But on Thursday morning, the High Court of England said the British government had “unequivocally recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president” instead of Maduro, so the Maduro administration cannot have it. BBC News reports that Maduro applied for the gold to help finance his fight against the coronavirus pandemic, but Guaidó asked the Bank of England not to turn it in, arguing that it would be misused. The bank then asked the High Court to rule on whether the UK government recognizes Maduro or Guaidó as the Venezuelan president. Venezuela’s central bank said it would appeal the “absurd” decision.