Tag Archives: Venezuela

May
24
2010
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Chávez threatens Venezuela’s largest food producer Empresas Polar

President Hugo Chávez threatened Venezuela’s largest food producer anew on Sunday, warning that his government could go after Empresas Polar and shut down its brewery.

Speaking during his weekly TV and radio program, Chavez said authorities are investigating whether food is being hoarded by “a bourgeoisie that wants to do harm.”

“If Polar continues hoarding, we will have to go after Polar,” he said.

The story was first reported by the Associated Press. Since yesterday, Venezuelans who for decades have worked for or bought Polar products reacted strongly against the threat. Here’s how people have reacted on Twitter in English and Spanish.

On Monday, El Universal newspaper reported: “What is the government going to do with a brewery? I would close it. Is beer a national need? How many deaths have there been here due to Polar’s beer? How many people have been wounded? How many street fights?” 

In his speech about the future of beer production by Empresas Polar, President Chávez said: “This brewery could become an ice cream factory, a food processing plant.

What will we do with a brewery? What for? It is not necessary. People get beer bellies, and their cholesterol grows higher and they turn crazy.”

Days earlier, National Guard troops seized 132 tons (120 metric tons) of food that officials accused Polar of hoarding in storage. And last month, Chavez ordered a state takeover of property where Polar has warehouses and offices, reported AP.

 
Apr
8
2010
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Venezuela’s Strongman Splurges on Russian Weapons

Washington Post Editorial
April 8, 2010

RUSSIAN PRIME Minister Vladimir Putin boasted after returning from a visit to Venezuela on Monday that he had sold President Hugo Chávez another $5 billion in weapons — a huge sum for a Latin American country that is deep in recession and busy rationing its water, electricity and hard currency. Take it as one more sign of the political, economic and human rights meltdown underway in a major U.S. oil supplier — and where it may lead.

The last time we looked in on developments in Venezuela, in January, we pointed out that Mr. Chávez had reacted to the unraveling of his economy and his shrinking popularity by stepping up repression of the opposition. That continues: In the past couple of weeks, the government arrested and brought criminal charges against three more leading critics. One is a former state governor and presidential candidate who said in an interview that Venezuela has become a haven for drug traffickers and terrorists. A second is the owner of the last television network that dares to criticize Mr. Chávez; the third is a deputy in the National Assembly who had denounced corruption.

Mr. Chávez’s move against former governor Oswaldo Álvarez Paz came after a Spanish judge issued an indictment accusing the government and armed forces of facilitating contacts between Colombia’s left-wing FARC terrorists and those of the Basque group ETA, who were allegedly concocting plots to assassinate the Colombian president and other leading politicians. Mr. Paz’s “crime” was to talk about this development. The Spanish dossier is one of several demonstrating material support for terrorism by Mr. Chávez, who has made little secret of his preference for the FARC over Colombia’s democratic government.

That brings us to the latest round of arms purchases from Russia, which come on top of $4 billion in weapons that Mr. Chávez already ordered from Moscow. The arsenal includes T-72 tanks, Mi-17 helicopters and advanced fighter jets — weapons suitable for the conventional war with which Mr. Chávez has repeatedly threatened Colombia.

The Obama administration’s response has been to soft-pedal most of this. Political arrests are met with perfunctory-sounding statements of concern. About the flood of Russian weapons, aimed at intimidating one of the closest U.S. allies in Latin America, the State Department observed that “we’re hard-pressed to see what legitimate defense needs Venezuela has for this equipment . . . we can probably think of better things that could be invested on behalf of the Venezuelan people.” Colombians — and average Venezuelans — can only hope such nonchalance is justified.

 
Mar
3
2010
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Spain Charges Chávez With Fostering “Illicit Cooperation” Between Terrorist Groups ETA, FARC

A Spanish judge this week formally charged Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and his government with aiding and abetting Basque separatist group ETA and Colombia’s guerrilla group, FARC, in a plot to assassinate top political leaders.

The 25-page indictment by Spanish National Court Judge Eloy Velasco orders 12 alleged members of ETA and FARC to stand trial for coercing to assassinate former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana, as well as Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Vice President Francisco Santos during their respective visits to Spain.

“There is evidence…showing the cooperation of the Venezuelan government in the illegal collaboration between FARC and ETA,” according to the indictment.

A key figure in this case is Arturo Cubillas Fontán, who once served under Chávez as Venezuela’s Minister of Agriculture and is married to the Director General of the Ministry’s public affairs office.

According to the indictment, Mr. Fontán sought “military training for ETA members in the Colombian jungle, in exchange for ETA’s help in Spain, locating terrorist targets sought by FARC.”

The Venezuelan strongman reacted angrily to the charges, claiming it is “part of a campaign to discredit Venezuela.” During televised remarks, Mr. Chávez attacked the integrity of the Spanish government and President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Chávez professed he has “absolutely nothing to explain to Zapatero or anybody else.”