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Photo composition showing the newly appointed UK chargé d'affaires to the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Colin Dick, next to an image of King Charles (HRH) holding an ingot of gold during a visit to the Bank of England. Photo: Orinoco Tribune.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The United Kingdom has appointed diplomat Colin Dick as its new chargé d’affaires to Venezuela, announced the British Embassy on social media platforms.
The UK imperialist approach toward Venezuela allows the UK to arbitrarily select who is the legitimate authority of Venezuela. When the UK makes decisions related to diplomatic and consular appointments and diplomatic relations, it chooses to formalize everything trough the only legitimate government headed by President Nicolás Maduro. However, when the UK has to deal with Venezuelan assets abroad and the gold illegally seized by the Bank of England, it opts to only recognize whatever is left from the illegitimate government of former deputy Juan Guaidó.
UK Spent Public Funds Backing Venezuelan ‘President’ in Gold Dispute
“We are pleased to announce that Colin Dick has been appointed as Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the United Kingdom in Venezuela,” wrote the UK Embassy this Tuesday, August 15.
Colin Dick will take the position as of this month and will replace Becks Buckingham, who had served as acting chargé d’affaires since August 2021. Dick, according to the UK embassy, is excited and grateful to represent the United Kingdom in Venezuela.
“I am grateful and delighted with the kindness of the Venezuelans,” wrote the UK diplomatic mission in Caracas, without mentioning the government of Nicolas Maduro.
Dos preguntas para ustedes:
1. Quien es el Presidente de Venezuela?
2. Cuando devolverán el oro robado?— Denis Rogatyuk (@DenisRogatyuk) August 16, 2023
The diplomat has extensive experience in this type of position, having started his diplomatic career in 1999, according to UK sources.
From 2013-2017, he served as commissioner for Barbados and the Caribbean. He also served as head of department and director in charge of the UK Department for Exiting the European Union (2017-2019). In addition, he held the position of deputy director at the Cabinet Secretariat, Cabinet Office, in 2020, during the tumultuous administration of Boris Johnson.
Relations between Venezuela and the United Kingdom are strained by the countless imperialist economic attacks carried out by the UK against Venezuela’s socialist government, including the issue of the 31 tons of Venezuelan gold held illegally by the Bank of England.
The United Kingdom stole Venezuelan gold reserves equivalent to some US $1.95 billion deposited in the Bank of England in addition to US $120 million seized as a result of a swap executed by Deutsche Bank.
Relations between the two nations were particularly damaged in 2019, when the UK recognized former deputy Juan Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela as part of the failed US regime-change operation against President Nicolás Maduro. In 2021, Venezuela chose to receive Becks Buckingham in order to strengthen relations between both nations, despite recurrent UK aggression against the Venezuelan people and government.
On social media platforms, many responded to the post of the UK embassy. Many of these responses demanded the return of the gold stolen by the UK. Journalist Denis Rogatyuk wrote: “Two questions: 1: Who is the president of Venezuela, 2: when are you returning the stolen gold?”
Interestingly, Dick seems to have had all his posts from his X (formerly Twitter) account removed prior to his appointment and arrival in Venezuela.
Orinoco Tribune special by staff
OT/JRE/SL
