Wiesenthal Center investigates whether Maduro regime traffics in Holocaust victims' gold

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is reportedly investigating whether the Maduro regime trafficked in Nazi gold stolen from Jews during the Holocaust.

This Wednesday, the center published a statement on its website indicating that it was studying information revealed by the Wall Street Journal according to which Maduro sold more than 70 tons of gold between 2017 and February 2019 to be able to support his regime.

Then, in March, some 7.4 tons of gold bars, valued at $300 million, were reportedly shipped on two flights of a Russian plane from Caracas to Entebbe to be “refined” and sent to a Middle East country. -East.

According to the investigation, ingots containing Jewish dental fillings “Zahngold” (gold teeth) were sent to South America to finance the so-called ODESSA network.

The Wiesenthal Center's director of international relations, Shimon Samuels, recalled: “In 1997, I had access to the files of the central bank of Spain on gold shipments in 1936 and 1945. The data revealed Nazi bullion made from removed gold dental fillings. bodies of Jews between gas chambers and crematoriums.

“These bars were sent from Germany to the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, some reaching South America, mainly Paraguay, then passing from Argentina to Venezuela and thus being able to finance ODESSA, the name given to the network of Nazi fugitives. who sought to build the Fourth Reich.

Samuels added that “another batch held at the Central Bank of Madrid may have been transferred to the British Embassy in 1945 and sent to the UK as 'life insurance' for Franco and to prevent a communist revolt in Spain. , Malcolm Rifkind, in response to the Wiesenthal Center investigation in 1997, referred to a consignment of gold sent from London to Germany, while Rifking claimed to have no knowledge of the Spanish bullion. The chaotic post-war conditions and their super fungibility make exclusion impossible. this portion of the cargo arrived in the United States, ostensibly for Marshall Plan measures against communism in Europe, and was then diverted to Caracas to pay for oil intended for American relief efforts.

“In fact, Ugandan police claimed that gold transported by two Russian planes in March bore American markings. At Entebbe airport, the African Gold Refinery (AGR) took the cargo for 'refining' , and then “export it to the Middle East,” Samuels explained.

“Of the two batches sent in March, the first part of 3.8 tonnes was processed and the second part of 3.6 tonnes was seized by the Uganda Police. President Museveni apparently ordered the gold released and traces were lost, although two tonnes were reportedly sold at auction in Turkey.

Samuel explained that “if the Ugandan shipment had been analyzed for 'DNA' and tracing, justice could still be served for the Venezuelan people and for the integrity of the memory of the Holocaust.”

“Although the AGR claims that the final destination was Dubai, via Turkey, if the final destination was a Muslim country, possibly Iran which would use it to finance terrorism, Maduro would be the agent of a historical irony: gold stolen from Jews during the year. The Holocaust would be used to finance a new attempt at genocide, this time against the Jewish state,” the Wiesenthal Center said.

Samuels concluded by saying that “Ugandan police noted that documents relating to the bars showed that they dated from the 1940s and that other witnesses claimed to have seen signs that the bars had been clumsily erased to hide their origin “.

The Wiesenthal Center has called for a thorough investigation into the activities of the AGR and the possible role of its leaders in the “theft of the property of the Venezuelan people”, the dubious origin of its transport of gold and its possible participation in an insult to the Holocaust.