Chávez: I have been granted authority to expropriate companies

Economy
Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez said on Monday night that he has no problem to expropriate such means of production as he deems necessary, if their owners are reluctant to abide by the rules of the socialist government.

Chávez referred specifically to the truck fleets that transport cement and other building materials produced by state-run enterprises.

President Chávez considered that the distributors of products have a "selfish" capitalist attitude that makes the products more expensive when they arrive at their final destination.

Chávez asked Minister of Public Works Diosdado Cabello to review the performance of the distributors of cement and make deals with them. If they refuse to do so, the trucks and semi-trailers will be expropriated.

The Venezuelan leader said that he has the authority "granted by the people" and the Constitution to expropriate whatever he deems necessary.

María De Lourdes Vásquez
EL UNIVERSAL

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IISS: The FARC financed Chávez before 1999

10:07 AM. DIPLOMACY. Admired by the Colombian guerrilla after his coup attempt in 1992, the then lieutenant colonel Hugo Chávez Frías received financial support by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for his projects after his capture that year. This mostly explains the relationship and "debt" between the parties, as revealed by a paper of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) of the United Kingdom.