Venezuela Welcomes Home Final Shipment Of Repatriated Gold Reserves

[Judi Lynn]

JANUARY 30, 2012, 11:21 P.M. ET
Venezuela Welcomes Home Final Shipment Of Repatriated Gold Reserves

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuelan officials completed a two-month process of repatriating 160 tons of the country's gold holdings Monday, by welcoming home the final shipment of the precious metal from Europe.

Declaring the process a "mission accomplished," government officials and state news crews met the 14-ton load at a Caracas area airport and heralded the televised event as a boost to national sovereignty.

Beginning late November, the government of President Hugo Chavez called back to the central bank's vaults in Caracas about three-quarters of the roughly 211 tons of the country's gold reserves that were stored in U.S., European and Canadian banks.

~snip~

"Venezuela's gold is now in the hands of Venezuelans, secured by Venezuelans and at the service of all Venezuelans," Merentes said, according to a central-bank press release.

More:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120130-718210.html

[Fool Count]

1. They should also get back the balance of their foreign bank accounts in cash.

It is not earning any interest to speak of anyhow and stands a good chance of being frozen
on a whim as they did with Iranian cash in Europe.

[truthisfreedom]

2. A little less than 9 billion at market rates, according to my calculations.

Yawn.

[Judi Lynn]

3. It could be you've overlooked certain aspects of the situation. From the Dow Jones article:

There are various estimates of Venezuela's total gold reserves, but on Monday Merentes said the figure stood at over 360 tons.

The World Gold Council ranks Venezuela's gold holdings as the 15th largest in the world, far and away the heftiest amount in Latin America.

The article wasn't posted to impress you. It's a news article.

[DeSwiss]

4. And gold will be worth much more.

- Soon. Very soon.....

K&R

[Dreamer Tatum]

5. Next initiative: excavation project to bury it all in the backyard

And acquisition of enormous shotgun to protect it from them god-dang revenuers.