The New Editor - The Americas

Hugo Chavez 'Tackles' Housing Crisis by Urging Poor to Squat Wealthy Parts of Caracas

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 12:12:00 -0700

The wonders of socialism, on display again.

The Guardian's Rory Carroll reports:

Hugo Chavez has sent out troops to take over farms and urged the poor to occupy "unused" land in wealthy areas of Caracas, prompting a wave of squats that is rattling Venezuela's middle class.

The move by Venezuela's president to step up the campaign to "recover" land and other property follows a housing crisis that has left millions of people in shabby conditions and affected his popularity in the run-up to next year's election.

Read the whole article.

When reading reports like this, remember idiots in the US like Joe Kennedy, Oliver Stone, Harry Belafonte, Sean Penn, Danny Glover, and Princeton University Professor Cornel West, who in the past have praised Chavez.

Fidel Castro Resigns

paulsgeary@yahoo.com (Paul Geary) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:06:36 -0700

Good riddance. Unfortunately his brother will take over. Got to love those Communist countries. No royalty or family succession here! It's about power to the people.

If only Castro's many unreconstructed admirers would resign as well.

Citgo Scales Back in US To Fund ChÃ¡vez's Goals

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:43:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal reporters Ana Campoy and David Luhnow write about how Hugo ChÃ¡vez is killing a cash cow: (emphasis added)

In 1997, one of every 10 gallons of gasoline U.S. drivers bought came from a Venezuelan-owned refiner, Citgo Petroleum Corp. That year, a student at Oxford University wrote a thesis saying Citgo was cheating Venezuela's people by investing too much in the U.S., and should send more cash home.

The student, Juan Carlos BouÃ©, drew scant attention until four years ago, when Venezuela's populist president, Hugo ChÃ¡vez, took control of the state oil apparatus. Today, Mr. BouÃ© is an influential member of Citgo's board. And Citgo, which Venezuela bought two decades ago to market its hard-to-refine heavy oil, now has a different focus: feeding cash to Mr. ChÃ¡vez's program to build socialism in Venezuela.

In recent years, while other U.S. refiners have invested heavily to take advantage of historically wide profit margins in the business, Citgo has been slimming down. It has slashed its investment and sold off U.S. assets, most recently by agreeing last week to shed a unit that turns crude oil into asphalt. In keeping with Mr. BouÃ©'s nostrums, Citgo has sent the extra money to its sole shareholder, the Venezuelan government. Citgo has raised its annual dividend to more than $2 billion, from $225 million in 2000.

Venezuelan Soccer Fans Protest Hugo Chavez

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:03:00 -0600

Despite President Hugo Chavez' ban on protests in or near stadiums during the Copa America soccer tournament in Venezuela, thousands of fans chanted protests against Chavez' government, according to AP:

Politics penetrated a South American soccer championship when thousands of Venezuelan soccer fans rose to their feet and loudly chanted "Freedom!" in a clear affront to President Hugo Chavez.

The chants â which included "This government is going to fall!" â began shortly into the second half of Thursday's match between the U.S. and Argentina in the western city of Maracaibo, a stronghold of opposition to Chavez.

Chavez opponents are hoping the arrival of thousands of tourists for the Copa America tournament will draw attention to their protests against the president's refusal to renew the license of a popular opposition-aligned television channel.

"We want the world to know we're not all with Chavez," said Gabriel Gonzalez, a business student at the University of Zulia, who attended Thursday's match.

About half the crowd of 40,000 appeared to join in the chants, which filled the stadium for about three minutes.

Chavez Threatens to Nationalize Banks

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Thu, 03 May 2007 18:08:00 -0600

From AP: (via USA Today)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday threatened to nationalize the country's banks and largest steel producer, accusing them of unscrupulous practices.

"Private banks have to give priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost," Chavez said. "If banks don't agree with this, it's better that they go, that they turn over the banks to me, that we nationalize them and get all the banks to work for the development of the country and not to speculate and produce huge profits."

It was not clear if Chavez was only referring to Venezuelan banks including Mercantil Servicios Financieros CA and Banco Provincial SA, or if he was also threatening major international banks with subsidiaries in the country, such as New York-based Citigroup Inc. and Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA and Banco Santander Central Hispano SA.

Chavez also warned the government could take over steel producer Sidor, which is majority controlled by Luxembourg-based Ternium SA. Shares of Ternium were down 4.9% in U.S. trading after Chavez's comments.

Venezuela Seizes Last Private Oil Fields

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:23:00 -0600

From AP:

President Hugo Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last privately run oil fields Tuesday, intensifying a struggle with international oil companies that could slow development of the world's largest known petroleum deposit.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez declared that the Orinoco River fields reverted to state control just after midnight. State television showed cheering oil workers in hard hats raising the flags of Venezuela and the national oil company over a refinery and four drilling fields in the Orinoco River basin.

Fools.

Binging in Solidarity

paulsgeary@yahoo.com (Paul Geary) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:01:00 -0600

Former Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona is hospitalized for excessive smoking, drinking, and eating. Perhaps hanging around with unreconstructed communists and socialist thug authoritarians caused him to, um, internalize the concept of "each according to his need."

Economics Expert Hugo ChÃ¡vez

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 10:41:00 -0600

The President of Venezuela is a veritable economic genius....

From BBC News:

"Those who want to go directly to hell, they can follow capitalism," Mr Chavez said in the town of Trinidad in Bolivia.

"And those of us who want to build heaven here on earth, we will follow socialism," he added.

ChÃ¡vez Waxes Anti-Bush at Rally

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 00:03:00 -0700

The Washington Post's Monte Reel reports:

Argentina provided the microphone, the stadium and thousands of fired-up spectators in the mood to hear some thunderous, fist-pumping, anti-American sloganeering. Venezuela's Hugo ChÃ¡vez took care of the rest.

As President Bush visited Brazil and Uruguay on Friday as part of a six-day tour of Latin America, ChÃ¡vez tried to steal his thunder by staging an anti-Bush rally in a soccer stadium filled with Venezuelan flags, Che Guevara banners and signs saying: "Bush Get Out!"

U.S. officials have repeatedly dismissed the idea that Bush's tour is an attempt to counter Venezuela's influence in the region. On Friday, Bush declined to speak ChÃ¡vez's name at a news conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, despite a journalist's invitation to do so. But ChÃ¡vez had no such reservations, attaching a long list of derogatory adjectives to Bush's name at every opportunity.

Venezuela to Seize Foreign Oil Projects

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:03:00 -0700

More good news, courtesy of Hugo Chavez...

From AP:

President Hugo Chavez ordered by decree on Monday the takeover of oil projects run by foreign oil companies in Venezuela's Orinoco River region.

Chavez had previously announced the government's intention to take a majority stake by May 1 in four heavy oil-upgrading projects run by British Petroleum PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., Total SA and Statoil ASA.

He said Monday that has decreed a law to proceed with the nationalizations that will see state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, taking at least a 60 percent stake in the projects.

"The privatization of oil in Venezuela has come to an end," he said on his weekday radio show, "Hello, President." "This marks the true nationalization of oil in Venezuela."

By May 1, "we will occupy these fields" and have the national flag flying on them, he said.

Chavez: Bush's 'Dictatorship' Threatens Democracy

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 00:03:00 -0700

From AP:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dismissed Washington's concerns that Venezuela's democracy is under threat, saying that a "dictatorship" led by US President George W. Bush poses a true threat to democracy around the world.

Condemning the war in Iraq, the Venezuelan leader said that Bush and John Negroponte, a former director of national intelligence who is designated for the No. 2 position in the US State Department, should be tried for "war crimes" committed by the US military across the globe.

"The two of them are criminals. They should be tried and thrown in prison for the rest of their days," Chavez told a news conference.

Government Sponsored Vacations?

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:59:00 -0700

The Corner's Mario Loyola has an interesting post linking to a Wall Street Journal piece on falling oil prices and and their potential impact on Hugo ChÃ¡vez's domestic and foreign spending programs in Venezuela.

But it's this excerpt that really caught my eye:

So far, falling oil prices haven't dented Mr. ChÃ¡vez's spending habits. Just last week, he announced a program to send 100,000 poor Venezuelans each year to vacation in Cuba.

Wow.

ChÃ¡vez's Left Turn

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:04:00 -0700

From a Financial Times editorial: (emphasis added)

Hugo ChÃ¡vez has lost little time in his crusade to bring what he calls "21st century socialism" to Venezuela. Within weeks of his landslide re-election, he has moved to close down an opposition television station, nationalise the country's telecommunications and electricity utilities and extend state control in the oilfields.

... for all the rhetoric about new economic models, Mr ChÃ¡vez, like previous generations of populist Latin American leaders, is still largely dependent on the price of raw material exports. Already, even after an unusually long period of high oil prices, Venezuela's economy is under strain. Government spending is fuelling inflation. Foreign exchange controls and declining business confidence have triggered the growth of a parallel currency market, which is adding to price pressures. Private investment is falling and far too many Venezuelans are still dependent on the sprawling informal economy for work. The network of Cuban-staffed medical facilities is under pressure and after the election victories of Havana's allies in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, is likely to be stretched further.

Restraints imposed by the market and the relatively better performance of other regional centre-left governments such as Chile and, to a lesser extent, Brazil, will show which way lies progress. Their orthodox monetary policies, fiscal prudence and more open approach to trade and investment, combined with effective democratic institutions and targeted social policies, offer a far better recipe for development.

Venezuela's Leap Backward

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:34:00 -0700

From a Washington Post editorial: (emphasis added)

Before his reelection as Venezuelan president last month, Hugo ChÃ¡vez declared that his goal was to receive 10 million votes and thereby a mandate to greatly accelerate what he calls a 21st-century socialist revolution. In the end, despite a one-sided campaign that left a majority of Venezuelans believing they might be punished if they did not cast their ballots for him, Mr. ChÃ¡vez received only 7 million votes; an opposition candidate won 4 million. The president's push to transform his country nevertheless is well underway -- and the model looks a lot like Cuba in the 20th century.
...

Some will see in Mr. ChÃ¡vez's actions a threat to U.S. interests. Certainly, those who caution that it is unwise to count on Venezuela to continue supplying up to 15 percent of U.S. oil imports have a point. If assets of U.S. companies are seized without fair compensation, Venezuela should be subject to penalties. But the main threat posed by Mr. ChÃ¡vez is to Venezuela's 26 million people. If he follows through on his threats, they can look forward to steadily diminishing freedom and -- if the history of socialism is any guide -- national impoverishment.

Update: Washington Post Foreign Service Juan Forero reports:

"We're heading toward socialism, and nothing and no one can prevent it," ChÃ¡vez, who won a third term in a landslide election in December, said in a speech in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
...

Last week, ChÃ¡vez decided to not renew the broadcast license of RCTV, a Caracas television station long critical of his administration. That move prompted swift condemnation from press freedom groups.
...

In his bid to accelerate economic reforms, ChÃ¡vez said he would seek to have the National Assembly give him special powers that would permit him to approve economic laws by decree. The plan would have little or no opposition in the 167-member body, which has not had an opposition politician in its ranks since the president's foes boycotted elections in 2005.

Venezuela's Chavez to Nationalize Telecoms, Power

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 00:02:00 -0700

From AP:

President Hugo Chavez announced plans Monday to nationalize Venezuela's electrical and telecommunications companies, pledging to create a socialist state in a bold move with echoes of Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution.

"We're moving toward a socialist republic of Venezuela, and that requires a deep reform of our national constitution," Chavez said in a televised address after swearing in his new Cabinet. "We are in an existential moment of Venezuelan life. We're heading toward socialism, and nothing and no one can prevent it."

Chavez, who will be sworn in Wednesday to a third term that runs through 2013, also said he wanted a constitutional amendment to eliminate the autonomy of the Central Bank and would soon ask the National Assembly, solidly controlled by his allies, to give him greater powers to legislate by presidential decree.