Venezuela’s Vanishing Gold: How 113 Tons Quietly Left For Switzerland

Key Points

1. Venezuela shipped 113 metric tons of central-bank gold to Switzerland from 2013 to 2016, worth about 4.14 billion Swiss francs (around $5.2 billion).
2. The export trail to Switzerland stops in 2017 and does not reappear through 2025, as sanctions risk and scrutiny rise.
3. Switzerland has now ordered a precautionary freeze on any assets held there by Maduro-linked figures, reopening questions about where the value went.

In the first years after Nicolás Maduro took power, a remarkable convoy began leaving Venezuela on paper, then in practice: gold from the country’s own central bank, sent abroad.

Customs records analyzed by Reuters show that between 2013 and 2016 Venezuela exported 113 metric tons of gold to Switzerland, a global refining and trading hub, with the shipments valued at roughly 4.14 billion Swiss francs, or about $5.2 billion.

To understand why this matters, think of a central bank’s gold like a nation’s emergency savings. Countries hold it for the moment when credit dries up, the currency slides, or imports become hard to pay for.

Moving that gold out is rarely a routine decision; it is a sign that the state needs hard currency and needs it fast.

Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported that the Venezuelan gold was leaving official reserves at the same time Caracas was drawing down its stockpile to keep the government financed as the economy worsened.

Switzerland freezes Maduro‑linked assets gold trail cold

Switzerland’s role is central because it is not just a destination; it is a place where bullion can be refined, recast, and re-exported, making later tracking far more difficult.

Our reporting has shown that the Swiss trail is only one piece of a wider network. A detailed investigation by El País, corroborated by US Treasury documents and OECD reports, traced how Venezuelan gold was also shipped on Turkish Airlines flights, refined in Turkish facilities, and used to pay for overpriced food imports that enriched a small circle of insiders while ordinary Venezuelans starved. The parallel route through Istanbul, the UAE, and other hubs helps explain why the Swiss export figures alone do not capture the full scale of the reserve drain.

Then, the trail goes cold. The same customs records show no Venezuelan gold exports to Switzerland from 2017 through 2025.

That abrupt change lines up with a period of rising international pressure, including the European Union’s dedicated sanctions framework on Venezuela adopted on November 13, 2017 and Switzerland’s alignment with those measures in early 2018.

Switzerland did not impose a blanket ban on Venezuelan gold, but the climate for such flows tightened. This week, the story gained new political force.

Switzerland’s Federal Council ordered an immediate, precautionary freeze on any assets held in Switzerland by Maduro and associated figures. Authorities did not disclose amounts or origins and did not claim a direct link to the earlier gold shipments.

A parallel dispute shows how reserves can become geopolitical leverage: about 31 metric tons of Venezuelan gold remains held at the Bank of England, locked in a long-running fight over control.

Related coverage: Brazil’s Morning Call | Vitol Gets A Green Light To Talk Venezuelan Oil, As Washingt This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Venezuela affairs and Latin American financial news.

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