HOUSTON — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Wednesday that the U.S. recently brought back $100 million of gold from Venezuela.
Burgum visited Venezuela with oil and mining executives earlier this month to meet with interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
“There hadn’t been a shipment of precious metals between Venezuela and America in over 20 years,” Burgum told energy executives at S&P Global’s CERAWeek conference in Houston.
“At the end of the two days, we were able to bring home $100 million of gold — physically, the gold,” the Interior secretary said. U.S. refiners will use the gold for commercial and consumer purposes, he said.
The U.S. captured former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a military raid in January, leaving the rest of the regime largely in place. The Trump administration is cooperating closely with Rodriguez, vice president under Maduro.
