Venezuela threatens to take over mines (Commie Alert)

Business Week Online ^ | JAN. 24, 2006 | RAUL GALLEGOS

[proud_yank]

JAN. 24 6:15 P.M. ET Venezuela's mining minister said Tuesday that the government was ready to take over top gold and diamond mines from foreign companies that have failed to exploit them.

Mining Minister Victor Alvarez accused unnamed foreign companies of using their mining holdings merely to speculate on the market.

"There are areas that have been kidnapped" by foreign companies, Alvarez said at a mining conference in Caracas.

Those areas will be taken back by the government so other companies can exploit them better, the minister added.

Some mining areas will be given to small-scale operators and others will be kept by the government to develop on its own, he said, declining to elaborate or identify which companies were targeted.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who says he is leading a socialist "revolution" in his country, has taken over farms, businesses and real estate deemed underutilized for redistribution. Foreign oil companies have also submitted to greater state control and higher tax and royalty payments after the government threatened to take over oil fields they operated.

Critics have accused the leftist leader of trampling private property rights, but Chavez claims his policies are justified to weaken the grip of foreign interests and the ruling elite on the country.

[proud_yank]

Chavez has pressed state-owned companies to increase production for the local market so the country can reduce imports.

I was unaware of socialism increasing anything BUT scarcity

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Sounds like the newest Five Year Plan is in full swing in Cuba Lite...

[proud_yank]

Kinda scary.

[SierraWasp]

Well if ya have any 7-11 Stores out your way, they sell CITGO gasoline that is a Huston, TX company wholly owned by the government of Venezuela, which is run by tin-horned dictator Chavez, Castro's best friend!!!

So there ya have it! Commie gasoline for sale on thousands of American corners!!!

[Panzerlied]

Why does this sound like a page from, "Atlas Shrugged"?

[Billthedrill]

Classic socialist approach, predicated on the misapprehension that material goods constitute wealth. These are classic extraction economies - oil, diamonds, gold - and are as such incapable of developing other economic activity by central fiat, which is the economic model Chavez favors. Taking them from the hands of independent operators stifles whatever secondary economic activity they now provide.

Chavez thinks he's building a Cuba with oil. He isn't. He's building a Zimbabwe.

[VeniVidiVici]

Workers of the world, untie!

[proud_yank]

Haven't read it yet, a good read?

[proud_yank]

Commie gasoline for sale on thousands of American corners!!!

Well, we know which one to avoid!

[proud_yank]

I think that every liberal desperately needs to pay attention to things unfolding down there. Perfect chance to see the net result of all their 'anti-capitalist' nonsense. Unless they truly believe that poverty and starvation are good things.

[Moonman62]

I think that every liberal desperately needs to pay attention to things unfolding down there.

True, but they are blind to it. There are already several communist disasters they've ignored. This one won't be any more visible to them.

Their hope is that one of these centuries, someone will do communism right and then they'll be able to say "see, I told you so."

[jeremiah]

It is a horrible read. I actually read it through, enjoyed the premise and characters, but was frankly embarrassed by the amateurish attempt at a novel. If she would have let someone with writing talent take her ideas, and put them to paper, it would have been much easier to digest. It is like a post on FR without paragraphs.

[jiggyboy]

"Sounds like"? The only possible difference would be if no miners are named Francisco D'Anconia.

[Dallas59]

[Dallas59]

[hedgetrimmer]

Not quite. Cuba teamed up with the failed USSR. Chavez however has endorsed an adapted version of "free trade" just like China's and is teaming up with the economic powerhouse, China. No, the odds are much more in his favor than they were in Castros.

He will also exploit the indian population in America, much like Morales in Bolivia.

[hedgetrimmer]

Can you do one with Hu Jintao?



Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales (L) meets Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing January 9, 2006. Morales arrived in China on Sunday after brief visits to France, Brazil and Venezuela as he seeks support on the world stage before taking up office.

[ndt]

"There are areas that have been kidnapped"

Since when do the kidnappers pay a ransom (buy) the kidnapee?

[Dallas59]

I'll try.

[Dallas59]

It had to be small because any bigger and it would have taken forever to download.