Trump’s administration is pressuring towards financial sanctions against Spain for what they say is its financial support of Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Venezuela.
The U.S. Treasury Department is thinking about sanctions against Spain’s central bank as well as other entities where Venezuelan money is located.
There are several thousand U.S. troops in Spain, which has been a partner to Washington in the war on terror. Some in the U.S. administration oppose the move towards this historic ally, but still, Spain has been warned about the potential actions.
However, Spanish officials said that during a recent meeting in Madrid with the U.S. special representative for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, nothing was said in regard to these sanctions. Abrams did say that the government needs to do more about Venezuelan money coming into Spain and pushed Madrid to freeze Venezuelan assets.
Spain was also accused by Abrams for allowing members of the Maduro regime to shelter funds and family members.
Spain hasn’t received notification of any action by the U.S. government and doesn’t believe it would be justified, a spokesman for the foreign ministry in Madrid said. The Bank of Spain declined to comment; a U.S. Treasury spokesman declined to comment. The people who spoke anonymously did so because the discussions are confidential and ongoing.
It was also estimated that large amounts of oil have been siphoned off from Petroleos de Venezuela and parked abroad, including in Spain. Just last year, the former Venezuelan minister was arrested and more than 100 properties from a suspected money-laundering ring were seized according to El Pais newspaper.
Meanwhile, in Caracas, Venezuelan central bank officials have been telling contractors that going through the Bank of Spain is possible to make and receive payments outside the country.
The Spanish central bank has said before that there hasn’t been a change in the activity in Venezuela’s account and that the amount of money is small. Those transactions are limited only to transfers by multilateral organizations to get funds to their representatives in Venezuela, the Bank of Spain confirmed.
The Bank of Spain’s persisting relationship with Venezuela is at a critical point for Maduro as financial institutions including Turkey’s state-run Ziraat Bank have stopped offering their services to move money. Some Venezuelan accounts in Asia have been frozen or discontinued as well.
Spain has its own political uncertainty. Polls suggest Sanchez will win the nation’s fourth election in as many years on Nov. 10 yet again come nowhere near earning an outright majority. Even if he can find a partner to back him in a confidence vote, he could be forced into another ballot as soon as legislative politics get choppy.
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