Gold Reserve Ltd has welcomed the removal of Nicolás Maduro by the United States.

The Bermudian-based company issued a statement on Sunday praising Donald Trump, the US president’s administration and the American military “to bring Nicolás Maduro to justice” and free a colleague the company said is a political prisoner in Venezuela.

In the statement, the company said the Maduro regime had committed “horrific crimes against the people of Venezuela, including one of our colleagues, José Ignacio Moreno Suárez, who is a political prisoner, falsely imprisoned, without trial, for 2½ years and enduring continuous torture and deplorable conditions”.

Paul Rivett, the vice-chairman of Gold Reserve, said: “We applaud the actions by the Trump Administration to bring Maduro to justice and we look forward to doing our part to assist with a return to peace and prosperity in Venezuela and the expeditious release of José Ignacio Moreno Suárez.”

According to a 2023 Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Mr Moreno, a company lawyer, was detained by Venezuela’s Directorate of Military Counter-Intelligence and later charged with “various criminal offences” that Gold Reserve said it believes are political in nature.

The filing states that the company has paid about $101,000 to Mr Moreno’s legal counsel and approximately $42,000 to him as an advance under his consulting agreement, noting that such amounts “are not anticipated to be repaid”.

Gold Reserve, which redomiciled to Bermuda in 2024, has a long history in Venezuela. Its Brisas gold and copper project was expropriated by the Hugo Chávez administration in 2008, and its later Siembra Minera joint venture was expropriated under Mr Maduro. The company notes that both projects are “being illegally mined using Chinese technology under the direction of the Cartel de los Soles … for the financial benefit of the Maduro regime”.

Gold Reserve has spent more than a decade seeking compensation through international arbitration and US court proceedings. Its unresolved claims have also placed the company among the creditor groups involved in the court-ordered sale process of Citgo Petroleum’s parent, Petróleos de Venezuela Holding, in Delaware. That auction — designed to satisfy billions in Venezuelan debts — has drawn competing bids, including from Gold Reserve affiliates.

US policy statements in recent days have also pointed to potential American investment in Venezuela’s oil sector after Mr Maduro’s removal. Mr Trump has said US companies would “spend billions” to help restore Venezuela’s petroleum infrastructure, and that the US would be “very strongly involved” in rebuilding the industry.

Gold Reserve said conditions on the ground remain uncertain but added: “We have the means and the fortitude to return to Venezuela” and that the company stands “ready to do our part to work with all legitimate parties to assist with post-Maduro transition and recovery efforts”.