posted on May 15, 2009 07:04:21 PM new
UPDATE 4-Venezuela temporarily seizes Cargill pasta factory
Fri May 15, 2009 4:36pm
* Venezuela seizes Cargill pasta factory for 90 days
* Move could herald permanent takeover
* Chavez plans to take over more oil companies (Adds Chavez oil, banking sector comments)
By Frank Jack Daniel
CARACAS, May 15 (Reuters) - Venezuelan officials including soldiers on Friday temporarily seized a pasta factory owned by U.S. food giant Cargill Inc in a pricing spat, the latest move by President Hugo Chavez's government against foreign companies.
Since taking office a decade ago, strident U.S. critic Chavez has nationalized large swathes of OPEC member nation Venezuela's economy, including a rice mill owned by Cargill [CARG.UL] earlier this year and dozens of oil service companies last week.
Bolstered by resilient approval ratings, the former soldier plans to keep moving against the private sector this year as he pushes ahead with his plan to build a socialist state in South America's top oil exporter.
"Yes, because we are determined to recover full petroleum sovereignty and it turns out that in Venezuela almost everything was privatized," Chavez said in Argentina on Friday when asked about plans to take over more firms after seizing oil service companies a week ago.
Chavez, whose government is buying a local unit of Spain's Santander (SAN.MC) finance group, said he had no plans to buy more banks "for now," using one of his favorite catchphrases that implies he may move against financial institutions in the future.
Friday's move could lead to the permanent takeover of the pasta factory. In March, Chavez ordered the nationalization of Cargill's rice mill a week after a similar temporary seizure.
Deputy food minister Rafael Coronado said the government would run the factory for 90 days after officials found it was not producing enough of a type of pasta sold at cheap, government-established prices.
"There was a marked noncompliance with the law," Coronado said, flanked by soldiers, in a television broadcast from outside the plant in the coastal state of Vargas.
Coronado said the government could decide to take further action against the plant after the 90-day period.
Cargill is one of the world's largest privately owned companies with a dozen plants and about 2,000 employees in Venezuela. It declined to comment on Friday's move.
HARDLY SLOWED
Chavez won a referendum in February that allows him to stay in office as long as he keeps winning elections. His approval ratings have stayed above 60 percent in recent polls despite spending cuts to offset lower oil revenues this year. Continued...
He launched his main nationalization drive in 2007 during a five-year oil boom when he took over the energy sector and the main telecommunications company, actions lauded by his mainly poor supporters.
He has hardly slowed the pace despite crude prices tumbling in recent months. Struggling with Latin America's highest rate of inflation, he has moved against several food processing companies accused of dodging government low-price regulations and stepped up takeovers of farms deemed idle.
He nationalized the Cargill rice plant in March because it produced a type of rice not included in price controls. He also threatened to nationalize the country's biggest private employer, brewer and food processor Polar.
Last week Venezuela seized several oil service companies including a large unit of U.S. firm Williams Companies (WMB.N). Chavez is also trying to buy the Venezuelan unit of Spain's Santander financial group. (Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
[ edited by hwahwa on May 15, 2009 07:05 PM ]
posted on May 15, 2009 07:31:12 PM new
Thanks for posting. This affects few US posters (except for Moody Mommy/Neglus whose husband is employed by Cargill. It has nothing to do with Obama. Hwahwa, GET OVER IT! Nobody is buying into your conspiracy drama.
posted on May 16, 2009 06:24:08 AM new
Hwahwa, GET OVER IT! Nobody is buying into your conspiracy drama.
///////////////////
I do not realise I am brewing a conspiracy!
But then some Cubans still believe the Bay of Pigs invasion is a conspiracy!
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on May 16, 2009 08:25:38 AM new
This is your first post about Chavez that didn't refer to him as the President's "mentor". It's pretty clear you have some sort of strange idea that there is a connection between the two. You've never explained why you feel that way, in spite of being asked repeatedly to do so. For that reason, we've concluded that conspiracy theory is exactly what you're up to. If any evidence to the contrary is forthcoming, I for one would be willing to reconsider my position. I have no admiration for Chavez.
As far as this particular post is concerned, who cares? It should come as no surprise that any country has the right to seize the assets of foreign corporations operating on it's soil. I seriously doubt there would be any great gnashing of teeth or wailing about injustice if the U.S. were to seize the assets of some foreign company operating here. Giant corporations like Cargill are perfectly aware of this possibility and should be prepared for it, especially in a place like Venezuela. In Cargill's case, I'm particularly unsympathetic. Cargill, and it's evil twin Monsanto are what's wrong with American agriculture and our poisonous food supply.
Venezuela - environmental destruction: According to Brewster Kneen, the company is currently planning a threefold expansion of its salt production in the Los Olivitos wetland in Venezuela, threatening the mangrove swamps and the fishery in the local lagoon ecosystem. The wetlands are nationally and internationally recognized as valuable; with 33 000 hectares of mangrove swamps, littoral lagoon (estuary), salt marshes, sandy beaches and dunes lying within the Maracaibo estuary. Much of the Olivitos estuary has already been declared a wildlife refuge and fishing reserve under Venezuelan law. Cargill built a 17km dyke with disastrous consequences. Fishermen's catches fell by half, while severe flooding and mudslides took place. The company now wants to discharge the highly-alkaline toxic "bittern" (by-product of salt-production) directly into Lake Maracaibo. Local people physically obstructed construction of the bittern pipeline. During the confrontation it was discovered that the size of the pipe exceeded the permitted diameter and capacity allowed by the environmental authorities. It became obvious that corrupt Ministry of Environment officials had authorized the work illegitimately. The Environmental Ministry canceled the permit, promising the villagers a public hearing, yet Cargill obtained a fresh pipeline permit with no public hearing. 1000 villagers protested and began to burn the pipeline, reducing almost half a kilometer to puddles of molten PVC. Cargill has now been taken to court and having made a number of legal errors it is possible the villagers will win .
Can anyone tell me why we should find fault in Chavez and his effort to control by acquistion corporations guilty of polluting the air and water while oppressing workers and unions throughout the world?
posted on May 17, 2009 01:20:47 PM new
Time will tell if your innuendo has some basis. There is an interesting discussion about his achievements and also the suspicion that you express here...
posted on May 18, 2009 05:56:41 AM new
That's a good link Helen and this:
Yet there is something unseemly about a ruler in a democracy serving for life. Democracy is ultimately about processes, not personalities, and so we naturally are suspicious of a ruler who seeks to stay on forever.
is precisely what bothers me about Chavez. I'd have to agree completely too with the first commenter there, who links Chavez' methods to those of our previous president. If anybody's a mentor to anybody, I'd say Bush is Chavez' poster boy.
posted on May 18, 2009 06:44:19 AM new
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton
posted on May 18, 2009 08:31:42 AM new
I wonder why a man's character is determined by how long he wishes to serve. But maybe you're right about Chavez. I am only basing my opinion on the good work that he has done so far.
posted on May 18, 2009 09:12:10 AM new
"Can anyone tell me why we should find fault in Chavez and his effort to control by acquistion corporations guilty of polluting the air and water while oppressing workers and unions throughout the world?"
Man, you're really screwing up big time now. See page 3 of the PC Handbook:
