By Ezequiel Minaya
Dow Jones Newswires
via The Wall Street Journal
Monday, January 30,2012

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.

The move was aimed at protecting the assets from turbulent financial markets overseas, officials said. About 50 tons of Venezuela's holdings have been left abroad to facilitate any future transactions, said Central Bank President Nelson Merentes, who was among the dignitaries at the airport.

"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.

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

In August, Chavez announced plans to repatriate foreign reserves as part of a broader effort to nationalize the country's gold sector.

The move puzzled economists, who said it would further reduce transparency and raise more questions over the central bank's declining reserves.