![The IHT reports “Chavez sends troops to Venezuelan rice companies.”
Highlights:
President Hugo Chavez on Saturday ordered troops to temporarily seize control of all Venezuelan rice processing plants to ensure they produce at full capacity amid soaring inflation and persisting reports of food shortages.
Chavez told the National Guard to “take control of and intervene in all of these businesses that process rice in Venezuela,” including at least a half-dozen local and foreign private companies.
Agriculture Minister Elias Jaua said troops would occupy company installations as “the first measure” in an unspecified takeover process, beginning with a rice plant owned by Empresas Polar, the country’s largest food producer.
Other major rice producers operating in Venezuela include Minneapolis-based Cargill, which owns the Santa Ana Rice Plant in Portuguesa state. Jaua said Caracas-based Corporacion Mary, which produces four types of rice under the brand name “Arroz Mary,” will be affected.
On Saturday, Chavez warned that any rice processing company that threatened to halt output would be permanently seized by the government.
In the past two years, Chavez has nationalized four major oil projects and some of the country’s biggest electricity, telecommunications, steel and cement companies.
President Chavez is a thief and a thug, which is to say, a Communist leader. Nationalization is a menace. His tyranny threatens us all.
Always and especially as such crooks are on the rampage, it is irresponsible of the United States government to attempt to scapegoat capitalism for the failings of state policies.
Do not lose heart. Not all are fooled, and thus not all is lost. Let’s do what we can.
[photo source]](http://26.media.tumblr.com/Anhohk1sakjx51yaffM0N9aho1_400.jpg)
The IHT reports “Chavez sends troops to Venezuelan rice companies.”
Highlights:
President Hugo Chavez on Saturday ordered troops to temporarily seize control of all Venezuelan rice processing plants to ensure they produce at full capacity amid soaring inflation and persisting reports of food shortages.
Chavez told the National Guard to “take control of and intervene in all of these businesses that process rice in Venezuela,” including at least a half-dozen local and foreign private companies.
Agriculture Minister Elias Jaua said troops would occupy company installations as “the first measure” in an unspecified takeover process, beginning with a rice plant owned by Empresas Polar, the country’s largest food producer.
Other major rice producers operating in Venezuela include Minneapolis-based Cargill, which owns the Santa Ana Rice Plant in Portuguesa state. Jaua said Caracas-based Corporacion Mary, which produces four types of rice under the brand name “Arroz Mary,” will be affected.
On Saturday, Chavez warned that any rice processing company that threatened to halt output would be permanently seized by the government.
In the past two years, Chavez has nationalized four major oil projects and some of the country’s biggest electricity, telecommunications, steel and cement companies.
President Chavez is a thief and a thug, which is to say, a Communist leader. Nationalization is a menace. His tyranny threatens us all.
Always and especially as such crooks are on the rampage, it is irresponsible of the United States government to attempt to scapegoat capitalism for the failings of state policies.
Do not lose heart. Not all are fooled, and thus not all is lost. Let’s do what we can.
[photo source]
