Posted on 03/04/2009 7:57:28 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez seized a local unit of American food giant Cargill on Wednesday and threatened to nationalize Venezuela's largest private company, Polar, as he demanded industry produce cheaper rice.
The clash with the food companies came less than three weeks after Chavez, a Cuba ally who has nationalized swaths of the Venezuelan economy, won a referendum on allowing him to run for reelection.
"I warn you this revolution means business," said Chavez.
The anti-U.S. president is popular among the poor for pressuring companies to produce cheap goods and for government programs that provide subsidized food in city slums.
In recent days Chavez has seized some Polar rice mills after accusing the food industry of skirting his price controls and failing to produce enough cheap rice.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Okay, so he’s run out of other people’s money. What happens when he runs out of other people’s food?
—when I was there in ‘81, Polar was a good beer—
Following the path of Mugabe, it appears...
What a flaming idiot! Within three years his people will be starving.
Chavez has to do something to take away from the fact that Oil is cheap at the moment, that means steal another private company.
Since the price of oil dropped, Chavez needs an enemy because the money is drying up. Look for more of this in the coming months.
Let’s see, he seized oil industry assets and then lost billions when he found his thugs didn’t have the talent to run them.
Is there any chance he’ll learn that his tactics don’t work, before his people toss him overboard?
Oh....no.....I’m still talking about Chavez....
Next he’ll be demanding cheaper frijoles...
Chavez likes the symbolism of picking a fight with “American Food Giant Cargill” but Cargill’s rice business in Venezuela is a very small, marginal business for them. And Cargill very likely have not been investing or trying to grow the business either these last few years, with Chavez around.
I thought he’d seized everything already!
Yes, grab property and then demand more production.
Kind of like when Xerxes made 10,000 of him men beat a river that had not been on his map.
Obama will seize Safeway in return.......
“What a flaming idiot! Within three years his people will be starving.”
Who’s an idiot? Three years from now, Chavez will still be eating grandly, I think, and Venezuela will still be his plaything, regardless of the state it’s in.
Beginning of a coming food shortage?
Hugo Chavez is a Marxist jerk. When is somebody going to shoot him and put him out of our misery?
So it has come to this, communists are openly stealing from Americans abroad, and not only is it tolerated, its hardly even reported on.
Outstanding.
It’s more than an enemy. It’s a typical leftist reaction to the economic problems that escalate due to their actions.
Of course the fascist Chavez doesn’t see it that way. He’s delusional. The guy goes out to make a speak and drones on for eight hours!
That’s not someone who is connected to reality.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.