Chavez threatens Polar with expropriation

[WriteDown]

Source: IHT

CARACAS, Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez on Friday warned Venezuela's largest food producer that its entire operations could soon be expropriated amid a personal spat between Chavez and its president.

Chavez accused Empresas Polar president Lorenzo Mendoza of personally "mocking" him, "attacking the government and disrespecting the country" — which Chavez said he considers grounds for expropriation. It was not clear what statements he was referring to.

"I'm going to take away all of Polar from you, down to the last plant you have," Chavez said in a televised speech.

If he were to follow through on that threat, his government would become the biggest player in Venezuela's food industry — potentially a key step in his plan to institute socialism....

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/07/business/LT-Venezuela-Polar.php

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Sounds reasonable. :eyes:

[anonymous171]

1. Hopefully these are just empty threats

I am all for expropriation of certain industries, but only if the company is failing hard or it is doing something totally illegal/immoral.

[cali]

2. Just out of curiosity

Why is it that Chavez bugs you so much? Why do you care?

[Tejas]

15. try to keep up

um, maybe because he is in control of 12-14% of US oil imports?

[Butch350]

17. That would help to reduce our oil dependency by 12-14% ???

[RedCloud]

3. Para Olvidar Los Armagos Recuerdos

One time the extremely muscular iron mold decorator at a glass plant put periods after each letter in POLAR. The POLAR company was not intimidated by Cleto's Hulk size muscles and was upset that the use of their initials would seem to stand for something. Francisco on the team to soothe the angry feelings, ever the comedian, quickly quipped in the meeting, oh that's Para olvidar los amargos recuerdos (To forget the bitter memories). The POLAR folks had a great laugh and ended up buying several thousand of whgat would become know as the souvenir collection bottles.

From my days of working in Venezuela, I am
Red Cloud

[Psephos]

12. Interesting story n/t

[Bacchus39]

4. "attacking the government and disrespecting the country" are grounds for expropriation

fascinating

[Dreamer Tatum]

5. Look for much, much more of this as Venezuela withers

Scaring off direct private and foreign investment in times like these is worse than a tax increase and
protectionism rolled into one.

[EFerrari]

14. Didn't you also predict last summer that Chavez would use

his private militias in a reign of violence? So far, you're 0 for 1.

[Dreamer Tatum]

18. No, but I'm glad to see youlet slip that he has private militias

You and the other Chavez brownshirts be sure to wake me when you realize Venezuela wants to be North Korea when it grows up.

[EFerrari]

21. Actually, you did. And that was your term.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=405&topic_id=6762&mesg_id=6842

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=405&topic_id=6762&mesg_id=6859

And thanks for calling me a "brown shirt" for defending facts. Very nice.

[Peace Patriot]

6. We're talking about CARGILL (global corporate monster)--Polar is a subsidiary--

and has been defying government regulations on rice production and hoarding, in the midst of a world, regional and local food crisis. As usual, the fuckwads at the International Herald Tribune don't tell the whole story. Read about it here...

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/search/node/polar

[WriteDown]

7. Yes, because

Venezuela analysis is impartial. Once again, the markets are empty of any kind of rice, beans, coffee, etc. It seems likely that another company could come in and make TONS of money by just taking advantage of the demand. Why do you think that hasn't happened?

[cali]

8. no we are not talking about Cargill. Espresas Polar is a privately owned

Corporation. Now, for all I know, it may be the sum of all evil, but it ain't a subsidiary of Cargill. And your link doesn't claim that. The irony in your post about the "fuckwads" at the IHT, is most amusing.

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Empresas-Polar-SA-Company-History.html

[Peace Patriot]

20. I was apparently wrong that Polar is a subsidiary of Cargill.

I had to go work just after posting this, and couldn't reply immediately, but have since carefully re-read many of the news articles--corpo/fascist and alternative--and I cannot find any direct connection between Cargill and Polar, except that both were acting to undermine and disobey the laws regulating food production, and the Chavez government took action against them simultaneously. If you re-read the articles written about this, I think you will see how poorly written they are, as to distinguishing these two businesses. I read them too hastily. I won't excuse my mistake on those grounds, but that is why I made the mistake.

And I stand by "fuckwads" for the IHT. They are often fuckwads on the South American left. And they do NOT tell the whole story of the food security issue in Venezuela, and why the Chavez government must take strong measures to enforce their food security laws. The problem started with the oiligarchy and previous rightwing governments, and their complete neglect of local food production in Venezuela, to the point that Venezuela was almost entirely dependent on imported food at the time that Chavez was first elected. Malnutrition among the vast poor majority was rampant. His government had to entirely create a food agriculture, processing and distribution system. They attacked the problem vigorously--for instance, with the first well thought out land reform program in Venezuela--and improved local production by 24%. This is a very difficult thing to do--create a local food industry from scratch. It takes time. They have made great progress. And Big Ag--especially U.S. transnational Big Ag (like Cargill)--and large corporations (like Polar, a private conglomerate within Venezuela)--oppose liberal government and food independence in third world countries. Cargill and Polar obviously fall into the same political category--whether they are related to each other directly or not. They oppose local self-sufficiency, national sovereignty and legitimate regulation. They have been deliberately under-producing, to drive up prices, and have been evading regulation in various ways, to undermine and topple the Chavez government.

Back in the 1970s, when Big Oil did this to Jimmy Carter, he should have taken strong action against them, even to nationalizing the oil industry--because the oil industry was under-producing (creating a false shortage, and long lines at the pump) in order to topple him. It was political. So is this.

[Tanuki]

9. Thanks for the link, Peace Patriot

From one of the articles:

“It happened last year just before the referendum. Polar, Alfonso Rivas y Compañia, Cargill and some other companies related to Purina and others, were sending all this stuff out of the country to be sold at market prices in Colombia. You see, the prices were being controlled here in Venezuela to make food available and affordable to working people. So what happened was these companies sent all this out, truckload after truckload: caravans of all this food, into Colombia. And we had to buy it all back.”

We pass through another alcabala where there is a National Guard truck with an x-ray machine and a conveyor belt attached. We dutifully roll down the tinted windows and turn off the air conditioner. We’re hit with a blast of dry air as we smile at the guards, who smile back, and then wave us through.

The overriding reason the corporations shipped food to Colombia was, of course, profiteering: a liter of milk sold in a transitional socialist economy won’t command the same price as the same liter sold in Colombia’s “free trade” capitalist markets. But there was also a political reason, and that was the referendum of December 2, Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution’s first electoral defeat. The shortages, engineered by the very same opposition which decried them, then blamed them on Chávez, ironically boosted dissatisfaction sufficiently to defeat the initiatives for the further socialization of the economy. The referendum lost by less than one percentage point.

Franco waves his hand in front of him again. “Chavez is a plainsman and he has a long vision. He’s a great chess player who turns defeats into victories. And so he set up these checkpoints to stop what was really highway robbery by the big corporations, and then he began to nationalize the food industries.”



http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3580

Yes, there is much more to all of this than some sort of "personal spat."

[Psephos]

11. Polar is not a Cargill subsidiary

Where did you get that idea?

They're completely separate companies.

[Spouting Horn]

16. When Toilet Paper

inevitably becomes a luxury item in Venezuela, who will you blame then? Charmin?

[Dreamer Tatum]

19. Completely made-up claim, meant to confuse and obfuscate

Cargill and Polar have one thing in common: they're both private. Venezuela is a hair on Cargill's butt, though, and Polar is captive. Looks like Kim Jong Chavez is setting the table to take over more private enterprise.

[killbotfactory]

10. Oh, so this is all some sort of personal spat

riiiiiiiiggggght.

It's just Chavez being a dictatorish dictator of a dictatorship going crazy with his dictator powers.

[classysassy]

13. Propaganda

from the rich right wing crooks,those bastards will say or do anything to hold onto their ill begotten loot.