Charles de Gaulle did something similar in 1965, but he was importing gold from the US, not from England.
Argentina had a similar problem in 1946: its central bank "reserves" were actually held in trust by the Bank of England, in large part as a result of Argentina feeding England through the war, and England (as I understand it) couldn't come up with the cash. The eventual solution was to exchange the reserves for the British-owned railways of Argentina, which unfortunately couldn't be exported in trade to import the things Argentina needed.
I could be naïve, but I think keeping your central bank's reserves overseas in a possibly hostile country is a dumb idea. Chávez doesn't seem to have done a very good job at New-Dealing his country, but he does get some things right.
Argentina had a similar problem in 1946: its central bank "reserves" were actually held in trust by the Bank of England, in large part as a result of Argentina feeding England through the war, and England (as I understand it) couldn't come up with the cash. The eventual solution was to exchange the reserves for the British-owned railways of Argentina, which unfortunately couldn't be exported in trade to import the things Argentina needed.
I could be naïve, but I think keeping your central bank's reserves overseas in a possibly hostile country is a dumb idea. Chávez doesn't seem to have done a very good job at New-Dealing his country, but he does get some things right.