PRESS RELEASE | @SOSOrinoco Statement: U.S. Decision to Authorize "Blood Gold" Trade via General License 51 Sustains Ecocide and Launders Criminal Wealth Caracas / Washington, D.C. — March 7, 2026 SOSOrinoco issues a grave warning regarding the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issuance of General License No. 51 (GL 51) on March 6, 2026. This decision, which authorizes U.S. entities to engage in the purchase, importation, and refining of Venezuelan-origin gold, effectively greenlights the continued looting of the Venezuelan Amazon and provides a "legal" veneer for the trafficking of "Blood Gold". A Rebranded Criminal Bonanza: Despite the capture of Nicolás Maduro in January 2026, the underlying "business model" of the Arco Minero del Orinoco remains a chaotic, violent, and criminal enterprise. As SOSOrinoco warned in 2023, this model was designed to disregard human rights and environmental regulations to benefit a small circle of elites. The current regime, led by Delcy Rodríguez Gómez, is now executing the very plan we identified years ago: using the lifting of sanctions to partner with international firms like Trafigura to continue exploiting mines under the control of criminal syndicates and corrupt civilian authorities and military officers.   The Myth of Oversight and "Clean" Gold: GL 51 requires U.S. entities to provide "supply chain due diligence plans". However, as SOSOrinoco has repeatedly documented, there is no way of overseeing what occurs inside Minerven CA or the remote Protected Areas of southern Venezuela, where all mining is prohibited by law.   - Mercury and Ecocide: Gold currently being funneled through Minerven is extracted using illegal mercury, causing irreversible damage to the highly biodiverse Amazon. - Laundering via Deposit Funds: While GL 51 directs monetary payments into the "Foreign Government Deposit Funds," this mechanism does nothing to stop the environmental destruction at the source. It merely allows the beneficiaries of the Arco Minero policy—including military and civilian figures including @delcyrodriguezv and @jorgerpsuv and @dcabellor @cvm_ve who maintain a monopoly on fuel and mining logistics—to continue their trafficking openly. Conclusion: A Co-Participant in Ecocide: By authorizing activities involving Venezuelan-origin gold, the United States has chosen to ignore an ecocide that is now unstoppable. This "pro-business" agenda fails to recognize southern Venezuela as the conflict-ravaged minerals zone it remains. The U.S. is becoming a co-participant in the looting of our natural heritage, rewarding a regime structure that continues to violate human and environmental rights. ⁠"The U.S. administration is naive to think that these licenses will reduce smuggling or unsustainable mining. Instead, they are providing a funnel for 'Blood Gold' to enter the global market, contaminated by the blood of indigenous communities and the ashes of our forests." 
— SOSOrinoco. @WhiteHouse @StateDept @TheJusticeDept @SecretaryBurgum @USTreasury @Interior Contact:
[email protected] OFAC General License 51: ofac.treasury.gov/media/9350…