Four years ago, the UK government recognised Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s president. He’s now gone, but the Bank of England is still holding some of the country’s key assets. JOHN McEVOY Part 5 - Guaidó gone Guaidó and his representatives never managed to get their hands on the gold. In the most recent hearing, in October 2022, judge Justice Cockerill granted the Maduro board permission to appeal, declaring that the issues at stake were “ effectively unprecedented ”, and that “ the consequences of the decision have the potential to affect all the citizens of Venezuela ”. Indeed, the freezing of Venezuela’s gold has served as a form of collective punishment. In 2021, United Nations special rapporteur on sanctions, Alena Douhan, urged the UK “ and corresponding banks to unfreeze assets of the Venezuela Central Bank to purchase medicine, vaccines, food, medical and other equipment, spare parts and other essential goods to guarantee humanitarian needs of the people of Venezuela ”. With