; (B) trade-based money laundering; and (C) other cross-border flows of illicit assets. (5) In Latin America, mineral traders and exporters, local processors, and shell companies linked to transnational criminal networks and illegally armed groups all play a key role in the trafficking, laundering, and commercialization of illicit gold from the region. (6) According to a report on illegally mined Gold in Latin America by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime— (A) more than 70 percent of the gold mined in several Latin American countries, such as Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, is mined through illicit means; and (B) about 80 percent of the gold mined in Venezuela is mined through illicit means and a large percentage of such gold is sold— (i) to Mibiturven, a joint venture operated by the Maduro regime composed of Minerven, a gold processor that has been designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury, pursuant to Executive Order 13850 (relating to blocking property of additional persons contributing to the situation in Venezuela), and Marilyns Proje Yatirim, S.A., a Turkish company; or (ii) through other trafficking and commercialization networks from which the Maduro regime benefits financially. (7) Illegal armed groups and foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army—ELN), work with transnational criminal organizations in Venezuela that participate in the illicit mining, trafficking, and commercialization of gold. (8) Transnational criminal organizations based in Venezuela, such as El Tren de Aragua, have expanded their role in the illicit mining, trafficking, and commercialization of gold to increase their criminal profits. (9) Nicaragua’s gold exports during 2021 were valued at an estimated $989,000,000 in value, of which (A) gold valued at an estimated $898,000,000 was shipped to the United States; (B) gold valued at an estimated $48,700,000 was shipped to Switzerland