Why Venezuela can’t access $4 billion in gold that could help with earthquake recovery | CNN

It’s a fight for control over a stash of gold locked away in one of the world’s largest and most secure vaults, but this is no 18th century pirate novel or bank heist movie. It’s the situation facing the Venezuelan government as it attempts to navigate its way through political upheaval and the aftermath of last month’s devastating twin earthquakes. Caracas wants the Bank of England to return the 31 tons of gold bars it deposited there in 2008, saying it needs the money to pay for recovery efforts following the disaster that killed thousands of people and caused an economic hit equivalent to 6% of the country’s GDP, according to the United Nations Development Programme. While it’s not unusual for the UK’s central bank to hold the gold reserves of other countries – with one of the world’s largest vaults it holds some 400,000 gold bars, including those of dozens of other nations – in this case, there’s a problem. The fate of Venezuela’s gold bars – worth up to an estimated US$4 billion in today’s money – has been in limbo for years amid a years-long dispute involving the British government and Venezuela’s former President Nicolas Maduro. The bank froze