Monthly Archives: December 2011

Dec
2
2011
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 12/2/11

In this week’s roundup…The Latin American summit being hosted in Caracas this week shines a spotlight on President Chávez questionable health; A prosecutor for the International Criminal Court will consider alleged “crimes against humanity” committed by Chávez and Mexican president Felipe Calderón; Venezuelan officials arrest one of the world’s most-wanted suspected drug kingpins. Meanwhile, Chavez’s newest price controls send consumers “panicking” to stock up on basics items like coffee and toilet paper, and his tight-fisted housing policies have driven a growing number of Venezuelans to invest, ironically, not in Venezuela’s but in Miami’s real estate market.

FACTBOX-Venezuela’s nationalizations under Chavez, Reuters

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has nationalized major swaths of the South American OPEC nation’s economy as part of a socialist agenda he has promulgated during nearly 13 years in power. Venezuela was battling about 20 arbitration cases as of late 2011 through the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes. Below are examples of companies whose assets have been confiscated.

Latin American summit re-run to test Chavez health, Reuters

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosts a regional summit this week that puts his recovery from cancer at center stage as he begins his toughest election campaign yet. The first meeting of the 33-member Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on December 2-3 was originally meant to be held six months ago to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Venezuela’s independence.

ICC prosecutor to consider complaints against President Chávez, El Universal

Argentine lawyer and chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo said Tuesday that he would consider the complaints filed with the ICC on alleged crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and Mexican president Felipe Calderón.

Venezuela arrests Colombian drug kingpin, The Telegraph

One of the world’s most wanted suspected drug kingpins, who allegedly ran a 1,500-strong gang trafficking tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States, has been arrested in Venezuela. Maximiliano Bonilla-Orozco, 39, is expected to be extradited to the US, whose government had offered a reward of up to $5m for information leading to his capture.

Venezuela Repatriates First Gold Shipment From Europe, The Wall Street Journal

Venezuelan officials Friday welcomed the first air shipment of overseas gold holdings as part of a controversial move to repatriate the country’s foreign reserves held in North America and Europe. Crates holding gold bullion were shown on state television being offloaded at the capital city’s Maiquetia airport and onto armored vehicles.

Chavez Price Caps Spark Panic Buying of Coffee, Toilet Paper, Bloomberg

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s move to expand price controls this week sparked panic purchases by consumers, leading to shortages of everything from coffee to toilet paper. People are buying more than they need to stock their homes and resell the products at a profit in the black market, Food Minister Carlos Osorio said yesterday on state television.

Venezuelans fuel Miami property boom, The Financial Times

Hugo Chavez may like to indulge in a bit of fist-shaking at the gringos every now and again, but often he can inadvertently be quite useful to what he likes to call the “evil empire”. Most recently, he has helped to power a recovery in Miami’s depressed real estate market by driving a growing number of rich Venezuelans to buy up property in that hotbed of expatriate latinos, thanks to an absence of investment options at home.

 
Dec
2
2011
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ICYMI – Venezuela: Private Sector Crowded Out

The Financial Times
By Benedict Mander

Huge sums of money have been ploughed into social programmes that, by government estimates, have reached more than 20m people, and Mr Chávez has overseen a reduction in poverty by more than half.

But beyond simply crowding out private sector efforts to help the poor, some argue the government has also played an active role in ensuring there are fewer opportunities to do so.

“It’s not only that the government doesn’t like [corporate philanthropy], it’s actually doing something to put a stop to it,” says a Venezuelan who runs a private non-profit organisation involved in microfinance and who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.

“The government has pulled the rug from under our feet, as it doesn’t like microfinance. It’s exactly what they don’t want because it enables people not to have to depend on them.”

He says changes to banking laws have made microfinance increasingly less viable for his foundation and many microfinance organisations have been forced to move into conventional banking to survive.

But in spite of persistent attempts to diminish the affluence and influence of the rich, who Mr Chavez considers his political opponents, as well as a generalised hostility to the private sector, corporate philanthropy is surviving. Pressing social needs mean there remains plenty of room for non-profit organisations in sectors such as healthcare, education and housing.

A proportion of the most important private sector philanthropic work is carried out by some of Mr Chávez’s most high-profile adversaries.
One of the country’s biggest charities is the Polar Foundation, the social arm of the largest privately owned company.

Mr Chávez has repeatedly threatened to expropriate Polar, the food group, and he once said, Lorenzo Mendoza, its president would go to hell for being rich.
Private philanthropy has also flourished in areas where the government struggles to deliver.

Many public hospitals are in poor condition, for example, but the Children’s Orthopaedic Hospital in Caracas, a non-profit private foundation set up in 1945 by Eugenio Mendoza, a relative of Polar’s president, is flourishing.

But for many companies, being socially responsible is a challenge, and often not a priority. “With so much regulation and low profit margins there’s not much room for manoeuvre,” says Asdrubal Oliveros, an economist at Ecoanalitica, a consultancy.

“The government wants to monopolise the social arena to generate political returns … It is part of the DNA of ’21st century socialism’ that the state just keeps growing.”

“We are very happy we have been able to survive in this environment and to do the work we do,” says the philanthropist involved in microfinance.