Venezuela Gets First Shipment Of Physical Gold Today
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
11/25/2011
Back in August, the news that Venezuela ruler Hugo Chavez had decided to repatirate his gold from London vaults made headlines and was one of the key catalysts sending gold to its all time highs north of $1900/oz. Since then the story died down with no updates. Until today: Bloomberg has reported that Venezuela will receive the first shipment of gold reserves being repatriated from U.S., Canadian and European banks today. “Chavez, speaking on state television, said that the bars will be escorted to vaults in Venezuela s central bank by the military after arriving by air to the South American country. The gold that was over there in England will soon be arriving, said Chavez. The opposition says that I’ll put the gold in the presidential palace or give it away to Cuba or something. This gold is going back to where it should have never left — to the Central Bank of Venezuela. Chavez, a former paratrooper and self-professed socialist, in August ordered the central bank to repatriate $11 billion of gold as a safeguard against volatility in financial markets.” Will Chavez demonstrate phenomenal foresight having collected his gold just months ahead of Europe falling into the abyss of a toxic debt spiral or were his worries unfounded? It remains to be seen. However, he will probably sleep sounder knowing that his gold is no longer in the vaults of the LBMA, HSBC, or several hundred feet under the New York Fed. That is, of course, if the “presidential palace or Cuba or something” ends up having real 999 gold, and not just several blocks of Tungsten with a pretty plating on top.
