Gold obligations

On October 5, 2020, the England and Wales Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision from July that denied the Venezuelan government access to 31 metric tons of its gold stored in the Bank of London. No one denies that the gold belongs to the Venezuelan government. However, the bank refused to give the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro access to the gold; following the UK Foreign Office’s example, the bank said that the actual president of Venezuela was Juan Guaidó.

Mr. Guaidó, unlike President Maduro, has not won an election to the presidency, nor is he in the line of succession to become president in any eventuality. The anointing of Mr. Guaidó came from the United States government, not the Venezuelan people; the UK Foreign Office and the lower courts agreed with Washington, while the England and Wales Court of Appeal relied for its decision on fact and logic.

A bit out of my league. This was not an actual default,  the bank acknowledges the gold exists and belongs to Venezuela.  But this is about Veenzuela defaulting on its bonds earlier in 2017. I dunno enough about law, but Trump seems to relish high piracy. What claim does the US have to veto the transfer? Remember the time Trump ordered Theresa to seize that Iranian ship? The Brits took the heat on that one, but it was strictly another Trump piracy.