Free Republic

Gold Reserves Looted from Venezuela's Central Bank Uncertainty over the whereabouts of Venezuela's national gold reserves and who controls them. Want to know if Venezuela still has any gold reserves left? Then don't look for it in the country's Central Bank anymore. Central Bank (BCV) gold reserves have been trucked to the Caracas Fuerte Tiuna army garrison under armed escort by loyalist military officers who support strongman Hugo Chavez in his refusal to allow free and democratic elections. Garrison commander Jorge Luis Garcia Carneiro, a military officer still loyal to Chavez, has refused to give precise figures of how much...

Venezuela’s gold reserves have plunged to their lowest level on record after it sold $1.7 billion of the precious metal in the first quarter of the year to repay debts. The country is grappling with an economic crisis that has left it struggling to feed its population.

Venezuela sent $1.3 billion worth of gold bars to Switzerland in mid-January, according to data from the Swiss Federal Customs Administration. That gold was shipped out just weeks before two big debt payments due this month, totaling $2.3 billion. On Friday alone, Venezuela has to pay bondholders $1.5 billion. Venezuela is running out of cash and many experts believe there's a high chance it will default by this fall when a string of big debt payments are due. "It's a question of when Venezuela will default, not if," says Russ Dallen, managing partner at LatInvest, a firm that invests in...