US warns Turkey on Venezuelan sanctions after shady Venezuelan official visits Ankara
Aissami was sanctioned as a drug kingpin by the US several years ago. His family has ties to Iraq’s former Baathist regime. And, he, himself, is reported to have links with Syria, Iran, and Cuba, as well as Lebanese Hizbollah.
Aissami is described as having risen ruthlessly through the ranks of Hugo Chavez’ socialist regime—a brilliant organizer, who cultivated ties with Venezuela’s secret police and then used those relations to advance his own career.
“A cold-blooded man with the manners of a gentleman and impeccable grooming,” a Venezuelan official told the Wall Street Journal.
As many western countries, led by the US, as well as the Organization of American States and at least eleven Latin American countries, have recognized Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim leader, Turkey has joined Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba in supporting Maduro.
“Turkey has increasingly acted in coordination with the VIRTU countries, an acronymic club of authoritarian regimes that includes Venezuela, Iran, Russia, and Turkey,” Aykan Erdemir, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, explained.
Of particular concern regarding sanctions is Turkey’s gold trade with Venezuela. “The Turkish government is coming under renewed pressure to stop buying gold from Venezuela,” the BBC reported on Friday.
In 2012 and 2013, Turkey imported gold from Venezuela as a way of circumventing US sanctions on Iran. After the “gas-for-gold” scheme was discovered and exposed, US criminal proceedings followed, including against a senior official at a major state-owned Turkish bank. He was tried in New York in 2017; found guilty; and received a 32-month sentence.
In the first nine months of 2018, Venezuela shipped 900 million dollars in gold to Turkey. Caracas claimed it was refining its gold there, rather than in Switzerland, where the valuable metal might be vulnerable to US seizure.
What Venezuela received in return is unclear, as there is no record of Turkey exporting refined gold back to Venezuela. Turkey might have provided some other goods, including food products, or the gold trade might be part of a continued evasion of Iranian sanctions. It could also be a way for Venezuela to obtain hard currency—or some combination of these explanations.
However, a former deputy head of the Turkish embassy in Venezuela, Imdat Oner, described yet another possible angle of the suspect trade, emphasizing the prospects for the personal enrichment of senior officials in both Turkey and Venezuela.
“A vast bribery and corruption mechanism that would benefit government officials of the two countries may play an important role,” Oner suggested.
Tareck El Aissami was born in Venezuela to a Syrian father and a Lebanese mother. As a university student, Aissami became involved in radical politics, meeting Maduro in 2001. He quickly joined—and rose—in the socialist party of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.
Appointed Venezuelan Vice President in January 2017, Aissami was sanctioned the following month by the US Treasury Department, which designated him a drug kingpin for “playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking.”
Some two weeks ago, on January 16, Aissami visited Turkey’s Ahlatci gold refinery. The Venezuelan was in Turkey to “finalize a deal” on the gold trade, which had been agreed upon in a visit that Erdogan paid to Venezuela in December, Middle East Eye explained.
