Chavez Continues Nationalization Drive
Enacting laws without actually spelling out what the laws are about is serious cause for alarm, and even the Venezuelan Communist Party requested that the laws be made available to the public.
Noticias24 has now posted the text of the laws (link in Spanish). A quick review of the list shows that they affect nearly every aspect of the economy, the military, social security, and private property. The new laws increase state control over agriculture, tourism, and transportation.
One of the new laws allows for the creation of a new National Bolivarian Militia and Cuban-style “defense committees” run by local councils.
The new laws also allow the government to seize any business for minor irregularities. Article 109 allows for employees of the so-called Institute for the Defense of People in the Access to Goods and Services to “seize and operate” any business for a number of violations. These include failing to provide the business’ books and records open to audit on demand, and not having appropriate receipts for purchases.
Additionally, business owners who refuse to produce, transport, import or sell “basic needs items” would face up to ten years in jail.
The new laws regarding banks add more regulations to an already-overregulated industry and give the Bank and Financial Superintendent the authority to set loan terms, interest rates, and “requisites it deems convenient,” increasing the government’s control over the banking industry. Chavez may not need to take over more financial institutions to achieve his goal.
So far, Chavez has nationalized dozens of firms including:
- In the oil industry: USA’s Exxon, Conoco-Phillips, Chevron; France’s Total; Norway’s StatoilHydro; Britain’s BP.
- CANTV TDVd.CR, the nation’s largest telecommunications company.
- Electric utilities: Electricidad de Caracas, which was formerly owned by U.S.-based AES Corp; Seneca, on Margarita Island.
- The idle Heinz ketchup factory, one of many idle manufacturing plants.
- Hato del Charcote, a large cattle farm owned by Agroflora, a subsidiary of Vestey Group, which was seized in 2005.
The latest crop of laws aims for nothing other than implementing a state-run, centralized economic and social system. You might as well call it Communism. The nationalization of the Banco de Venezuela simply marks another step in the process.
The Clown of Caracas desire is not to build a communistic socialist society, it is to build an empire with himself as it’s Fuehrer for life. Either the Venezuelan people are leaving this insult to intelligence and common sense in power out of stupidity, or fear. The shame of things is Chavez’s bluster of “War” against Columbia last spring would have brought a quick end to his imperial dream. The Venezuelan Military is dominated by the fruit of Soviet Military thought (without the education the Soviets had). Corrupt and politically compromised the Columbian Army (which is very professional) would have been dining in Caracas on the ( Insult to The Airborne’s) primary sexual organs (deep fried) if that had come to pass . . . shame that.
Obviously (hopefully) the readers understood that the phrase “Corrupt and politically compromised” referred to the Venezuelan military and (most decidedly) NOT the Columbian. Apologies to them for the poorly phrased sentence.
the phrase “Corrupt and Politically compromised referred to the Venezuelan Military and NOT the Columbian. The Columbians are tested daily by real combat, they are a proven Army.
It greatly disturbs me that America’s media have abysmally failed to mention what Chavez is up too. Few in America realize he is methodically seizing control of almost any & every aspect of life in that nation.
Socialism (or communism if you prefer), will destroy that nation. Its economy, which is already unsteady despite the revenues from oil, will deteriorate significantly & Chavez will spend away the national treasury.
Government control of every aspect of people’s lives, is what many in America “think’ would be good for us. Somehow they miss the obvious when they express admiration of such prospects.
Those proponents think government is the solution to problems they perceive the free market has caused.
Obama &/or Hillary would socialize our oil industry or any other they could control. We already hear rumblings Democrats want to end talk radio. We know Democrats have silenced members of Congress regarding their access to the government owned C-Span system. Pelosi refuses to allow Republicans access to C-Span, because she says they will politicize the 5 week vacation Congress is on. Well guess what Nancy, it should be politicized by at least mentioning to the American taxpayer (who pay for C-Span, not the Democrat party), that much legislative action has been allowed to gather dust as members once again vacation & “do nothing.”
Many in America should truly fear the idea that government is the solution. Many should fear the socialist position that the United Nations should have more control over American actions. Many should fear an international court, staffed by radical rabid anti-American judges who would prosecute just so they can “get” Americans. (A number of ICC judges were caught by a Belgian newspaper making just such statements one night, while out on the town).
Chavez is providing the world with one more example (as if any needed to have another example), that socialism in almost any form, always leads to despotic behavior of those in power. The Nazi’s gained control of Germany as “National SOCIALISTS,” not just because they planned to kill off Jews. Jews were simply used as a tool to lay blame on. In the end Hitlers National Socialist party was co-opted by the brown shirted thugs Hitler controlled. Hitler & the National Socialist party promised Germans they would save them from economic hardships & restore their national pride. All Germans had to do was give control of almost every aspect of life over to the National Socialists.
(We all now know just how terrific that turned out, huh?)
Personally, I am happy Chavez is acting so erratically. The more asinine he is, the more despicable his actions are, the more control he asserts over business, media, finance, oil, & every other business in that nation, the more obvious it is that socialism is a failed concept that almost always leads to high taxation, mediocre economic performance, abuses of the legal system, and oppressive political actions that rely on murder, terrible abuses of the legal system, bribery of those less fortunate who simply do not have the capacity to understand they are being taken advantage of, & eventual decay of the nation into less than third world status, at best.
Go for it Hugo….. be a jerk. You are a living testament to why government intervention into the lives of citizens means an end to freedom & the reduction of the people into virtual slavery to their tyrant leaders.
Socialization is a great way to destroy an economy, a currency, and a country
Sadly our Congress seems to be playing keeping up with the Chavez’s when it comes to socialization.
Between nationalizing Fannie and Freddie, dictating what stocks can and cannot be shorted on the market, installing Federal Reserve agents in every lending institution to oversee the institutions business, subsidizing which alternative fuels they like and repressing those alternative fuels they don’t like instead of just getting out of the alternative fuels business all together and let the market sort it out
Then there’s the government welfare for the people in the name of stimulus checks which do nothing but debase the currency even further.
We should worry less about what Chavez is doing to his people and worry more about what Congress is doing to us
I worry about both, Cawdor.
In 40 years of fraternal & controlled economy, the frugal Fidel Castro managed to put in his savings piglet about 500 million dollars – see? Socialism works!
So, since Venezuela is much richer than Cuba, we can expect Chavez to beat this performance – the Russian oligarchs are worried about their place on the Forbes scale, hear someone breathing behind them. We’ll check later with Forbes…
chavez is involved in the local food movement through activists that are his minions.
Few in America realize he is methodically seizing control of almost any & every aspect of life in that nation.
The little red shirted turd (“(I give “the peoples’ material support to Columbian rebels”) went semi-underground for awhile, following an obvious rebuff by his people for his desire to be President for Life like his crazy old uncle, Fidel.
But he’s back, pushing again the same old agenda.
Soon, as in Cuba, any remaining democratic processes in Venezuela will be moot.
At least 24 Russian-made Sukhoi-30 fighter jets were delivered to Venezuela on Sunday as part of the country’s defense capability build-up.
The purchase came after the Bush administration refused to sell parts for Venezuela’s aging F-16 jet fleet.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said of the delivery, “We received the Sukhoi aircraft as well as pilots, crew and missiles, and the aircraft will begin military practice with missiles soon.”