
If you have not been holidaying in a cave over the weekend then you will know that Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores were captured by US forces early on Saturday morning after a brief military action.
They have been taken to New York to face charges related to drugs and terrorism. There is much speculation that the US wants to control Venezuela and therefore its small but significant oil supplies, as well as control drug trafficking into the US.
What a start to 2026.
We are not party to the ‘why’s’ and ‘therefore’ s’, but this move would appear unprecedented in a sovereign nation attacking and taking captive the leader of another sovereign nation with European leaders appearing unsure of how to respond for fear of upsetting their US ally. Indeed, we have even read this morning that more ‘waves’ have started again about the US annexing Greenland (part of the Danish Kingdom) to become part of the USA.
China has since issued various statements accusing the U.S. of acting like a 'world judge', saying "We have never believed that any country can act as the world's police, nor do we accept that any nation can claim to be the world's judge," and to release Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife "at once". China has significant economic ties with Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico and the World will now watch with concern on how it rallies support for Maduro’s release.
Gold Prices
‘2025 was a ‘stellar’ year for gold, with 60% growth and a record high of $4,549 due to geo-political uncertainty. The start of 2026 is proving no different, the current price (at the time of writing) is $4,438.37, just over $100 short of setting another record high. This has been caused yet again by investors moving to safe havens on fears of World War III.
Comment
We cannot see World War III just yet, but we do see a new political headwind of ‘big is boss’, with powerful nations starting to impose their own will, contrary to United Nations rules on sovereignty and the rights to self govern.
There are so many power moves at present, US with Central America, Greenland and the Middle East; Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza. What next? Russia to annex Lithuania and Latvia to protect Kalingrad? We think not but we do fear that China will now be seriously weighing up a move on Taiwan.
The big boys are moving their chess ‘power’ pieces around at present and as investment advisers, we can only urge caution. We personally continue to hold 50% in equities and 50% in defensive areas such as bonds/gilts/fixed interest.