Spanish President Pedro Sánchez appears to be involved in smuggling gold from Venezuela to Europe. This contraband, known as blood gold, serves to launder illicit funds and evade sanctions. In early October 2024, Spain’s Civil Guard revealed his potential connection to the illegal transportation of 104 Venezuelan gold bars in 2020 that passed through Madrid’s airport.
These findings suggest the Sánchez administration, by allying with leftist regimes, is turning Spain into a Trojan horse: opening European doors to antidemocratic forces and legitimizing them on the international stage.
The Delcygate Scandal
In January 2020, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez entered Spain illegally on a private jet, carrying 40 suitcases allegedly filled with gold bars. Her luggage continued on to Turkey. This and other investigations, conducted by justice officials in countries like the United States, explain that the gold is melted down to erase its origin and traceability.
Due to European sanctions against Rodríguez, she cannot enter the Schengen area, so she was forced to return to the plane. In an attempt to justify her presence at Madrid’s airport—as she was there due to a plane scale—the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry made a last-minute request to travel east for a meeting with the Turkish president. However, given insufficient notice, Turkish officials declined.
The Civil Guard investigation revealed Rodríguez was in contact through phone messages with Spanish businessman Victor de Aldama and then–Minister of Transport José Ábalos. Aldama and Ábalos have already been implicated in separate cases of illicit enrichment and corruption during Sánchez’s first term.
Investigators reviewing Ábalos’s phone messages found that Sánchez knew about Rodríguez’s presence in Spain. According to the investigative report, Ábalos communicated with Sánchez about Rodríguez’s arrival four days in advance.
Moreover, de Aldama apparently planned a meeting for Rodríguez, Sánchez, and former Spanish President Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004–2011). It was supposed to take place the day after Rodríguez’s arrival in Madrid. However, since Rodríguez was unable to justify her presence in Europe, the meeting scheduled for 9 p.m. on January 21, 2020, in a Venezuelan embassy chalet did not occur.
The scandal, widely known in Spain as “Delcygate,” has sparked widespread controversy, challenging the stability of the Sánchez administration. If high-level officials have enabled money laundering via smuggled Venezuelan gold, Spain will be implicated in a global network of leftist regimes—allegedly pursuing the same ideology—and organized criminals.
The Gold-Smuggling, Money-Laundering Scheme
Venezuelan gold smuggling, perpetrated by the Chavista regime, dates back at least to 2018. Some evidence suggests illegal gold exports began under the Hugo Chávez presidency (1999–2013). This gold, often unauthorized for export by Venezuela’s legislature, reportedly includes portions from national reserves and illegal mining.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project has estimated that Venezuela’s illegal mines produce and trade internationally at least 75 tons of gold annually. Workers in these mines face extreme conditions, as criminal organizations control the operations. For that reason, this gold is usually known as “blood gold.”
In 2018, Reuters found that Venezuela had exported nearly $900 million worth of illegal gold, involving companies from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran. In these countries, the gold undergoes refining, returns to Venezuela without registration, and allows Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his top officials to evade US sanctions.
Spain’s Ambivalence toward the Chavista Dictatorship
Despite beyond-dubious results in the recent Venezuelan presidential election, Sánchez has opted neither to endorse Maduro’s victory nor to denounce it. This ambiguity persists even though the Spanish Congress recognized opposition leader Edmundo González as the legitimate president on September 11, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell publicly labeled Maduro’s regime as “dictatorial” in a Spanish media interview.
Lacking a clear stance on the election, Spain granted asylum to González, who made his request on September 8. This move sparked public disputes between the Venezuelan and Spanish governments, although it might be an attempt to distance Sánchez from Maduro’s regime amid corruption investigations.
Doy una cálida bienvenida a nuestro país a @EdmundoGU, a quien acogemos mostrando el compromiso humanitario y la solidaridad de España con los venezolanos.
España sigue trabajando en favor de la democracia, el diálogo y los derechos fundamentales del pueblo hermano de Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/EoTRvYPJSq
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) September 12, 2024
Sánchez announced that he would make a final decision on the legitimate representative of Venezuela by the end of the year, stating: “We have called for the publication of the election records. We have not recognized Nicolás Maduro’s victory, and we are working to foster unity within the European Union so that European solidarity gives us room for mediation by year’s end.”
Sánchez’s “Clean Hands” in Question
If Spain’s Civil Guard confirms Sánchez’s connection to Venezuelan gold smuggling, it will implicate his administration in enabling a global money-laundering and criminal network. Venezuelan blood gold not only represents a corruption scheme between government officials and criminal organizations within the South American nation; it involves multiple countries worldwide, including Maduro’s antidemocratic allies: Turkey and Iran.
Zapatero, also from the ruling socialist PSOE party, has openly supported Maduro. In 2020, with permission and financing from the Sánchez administration, Zapatero traveled to Venezuela to meet with Maduro. He was also present in Bolivia in March 2024 to meet Rodríguez and in Honduras for the Sao Paulo Forum held in July. The Sánchez administration, or at least PSOE, have paid for his trips, although financing has lacked transparency.
Now his successor, Sánchez, appears to be following a similar path. This ideological alignment is exposing Spain as an accomplice of the Venezuelan dictatorship, legitimizing Maduro through Sánchez’s silence and behind closed doors enabling Maduro’s criminal activities.
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