Mr. Suárez, a Venezuelan national, has worked for Gold Reserve for more than two decades.Supplied
Gold Reserve Ltd. GRZ-X, the TSX-listed company that is among a group of businesses seeking redress from Venezuela for expropriated assets, says its long-time lawyer is a political prisoner in the South American country because of his efforts to secure compensation for the miner.
José Ignacio Moreno Suárez, whose nickname is Nacho, is in poor health after enduring deplorable conditions in a prison near Caracas where he’s been incarcerated for more than 2½ years, according to company officials.
A Venezuelan national, Mr. Suárez, 57, has worked for more than two decades for Gold Reserve, which was developing mines in the country. In June of 2023, he was arrested by Venezuela’s military counterintelligence agency, La Dirección General de Contrainteligencia Militar. He was charged with treason, conspiracy and association, but was never given a trial for those criminal offences.
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Representatives of Gold Reserve, which redomiciled to Bermuda from Canada in 2024, call the charges against Mr. Suárez unfounded and consistent with those made against many other political prisoners in Venezuela. His imprisonment underscores the security risks that remain in Venezuela for global businesses considering a return to the country since president Nicolás Maduro was deposed from power in January.
“He acted in the interests of this foreign entity, Gold Reserve, and it was considered by Venezuela to be treason against the state,” said chief financial officer Dave Onzay in an interview. “So, they’re essentially criminalizing legitimate legal work for a foreign company.”
Mr. Suárez was the company’s point person in Venezuela. His role was to manage the company’s legal and administrative affairs along with its institutional relations within the country. In that capacity, he worked closely with various government entities and officials to advocate for the company.
It appears that Mr. Maduro took exception to his legal work and Gold Reserve’s participation in a U.S. court-ordered sale of Venezuela-owned CITGO Petroleum Corp.
Representatives of Gold Reserve call the charges against Mr. Suárez unfounded and consistent with those made against other political prisoners in Venezuela.Supplied
CITGO is the fifth-largest oil refiner in the United States and is widely considered the crown jewel of Venezuela’s oil industry.
Gold Reserve previously bid US$7.9-billion to purchase CITGO as part of that U.S. court process. But the presiding judge ultimately endorsed a rival US$5.9-billion offer by Amber Energy, a subsidiary of Elliott Investment Management.
Venezuela and Gold Reserve are among the parties appealing that decision but have different motivations for doing so.
Gold Reserve also has a US$1.2-billion claim against Venezuela that is registered as part of that same U.S. legal proceeding related to the CITGO sale. That compensation is being sought to fulfill an unpaid arbitral award, dating back to 2014, owed to the company over the expropriation of the Brisas mining project. That gold and copper project was seized by the regime of then-president Hugo Chávez in 2008.
The Venezuelan government has been in breach of a 2016 settlement agreement that stipulated payments for the arbitral award. Caracas stopped making payments to Gold Reserve in 2018.
In 2025, Gold Reserve initiated a second international arbitration claim, which could be worth billions of dollars, stemming from Venezuela’s revocation of the mining rights for a joint venture (a 45-per-cent stake for the company and 55 per cent owned by Venezuela) to develop the Siembra Minera mining project.
Mr. Suárez had been trying to resolve these investment conflicts with the Venezuelan government before his arrest. “He was doing legitimate legal work of a foreign company, but they consider that to be treason to the motherland,” said Mr. Onzay.
Venezuelan law stipulates that prisoners who are held without trial for two years are supposed to be released, he added.
“His defence attorney has petitioned the court to release him because of that, and those petitions have fallen on deaf ears.”
Mr. Suárez is not being given regular access to his lawyer. He is also suffering from “significant health issues” but is being denied proper medical care, Mr. Onzay said.
Venezuela, meanwhile, has slowly begun releasing political prisoners. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez is also proposing a new amnesty law that could liberate hundreds.
Still, it is not known when Mr. Suárez will be freed.
“We think it’s important to highlight Nacho’s plight,” said Mr. Onzay. “The charges are baseless. He hasn’t been tried. We think that putting the spotlight on him, hopefully, that’s going to help secure his release.”