Tag Archives: government

Sep
7
2010
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Casino, the latest winner in Venezuela’s nationalisation lottery

This article was originally posted by The Financial Times

Doing business in Venezuela is something of a lottery. Things can be going fine until the government decides it likes the look of your company and grabs it without warning. This is not unusual: businesses worth at least $24bn have been seized in the last five years.

To make things worse, the government has a poor record of paying up. It has about $14bn in pending liabilities from nationalisations and it is debatable whether the $10bn or so it has paid out so far represents fair compensation.

The latest company lucky enough to see some money is Casino, the French retailer. President Hugo Chávez said on Saturday he would hand over about $600m for an 80 per cent stake in the supermarket chain nationalised after a big devaluation in January, when Casino was accused of price gouging. The first instalment is promised for Tuesday, September 7. This may rile other companies nationalised before Casino but still awaiting compensation.

So what determines the government’s seemingly haphazard payment schedule?

It could be almost anything: the amount of cash the government has on hand; how much the business is worth; the nationality of the company (good diplomatic relations can smooth things along, while bad ones can be a real snag); whether the government has good relations with the company itself and how takeover negotiations go; and also the nature of the company and how important it is for the smooth functioning of Venezuela’s economy.

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Sep
1
2010
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Hunger Striker Dies After 5 Month Protest Against Chávez’s

Venezuelan farmer Franklin Brito died Monday after a 5 month-long hunger strike. The 49 year-old Brito’s 250-acre family farm had been expropriated in 2003 by the Venezuelan government. He began his hunger  strike to bring attention to the Chávez Administration’s systematic land seizure policies.

“Franklin Brito’s body became a symbol for all struck by the arrogance of power, for those offended by the arrogance of the rulers,” said the Brito family in a statement.

The Brito Family’s statement (Spanish):

Caracas, Hospital Militar Lunes 30 de Agosto de 2010

“Franklin vive en la lucha del pueblo venezolano”

CON INMENSO DOLOR INFORMAMOS AL PUEBLO VENEZOLANO Y AL MUNDO LO SIGUIENTE:

Hoy 30 de agosto de 2010 el agotado cuerpo de nuestro esposo y padre
Franklin Brito, dejó de respirar.

Tras una lucha de más de seis años, más de ocho huelgas de hambre, la
mutilación de un dedo y haber sido víctima de una irregular privación
de libertad, el cuerpo de Franklin Brito dejó hoy de realizar
funciones vitales.

Todo esto no significa, sin embargo, que Franklin Brito ha muerto.
Franklin vive en la lucha del pueblo venezolano por el derecho a la propiedad, el acceso a la justicia, por la vida en libertad y el
respeto de los gobiernos a los derechos humanos, colectivos e
individuales. Franklin Brito deja de ser carne para convertirse en
símbolo y bandera para todos los atropellados por la soberbia del
poder, para los ofendidos por la prepotencia de los gobernantes, para
los que creen que la verdad y la justicia están siempre por encima de
circunstancias y conveniencias.

El cuerpo de Franklin Brito muere en la institución militar donde lo
mantenían retenido en contra de su voluntad.

El gobierno del Presidente Hugo Chávez ignoró la petición de Franklin, el clamor de su familia y los llamados de los organismos internacionales para permitir que tuviera acceso a asistencia médica elegida por él mismo y, por lo tanto, merecedora de su confianza. Por eso, la familia Brito por ahora se abstiene de emitir opiniones sobre las causas directas del deceso, en virtud de las insólitas e inhumanas circunstancias que lo rodearon.

Pero lo que si podemos decir desde ya es que la lucha de Franklin Brito sigue. Nosotros, su familia, seguiremos luchando por el patrimonio de sus hijos. Y su consciente sacrificio no será en vano mientras los hijos de Venezuela estén también dispuestos a defender el patrimonio físico y moral de la Nación.

En momento posterior, cuando el dolor nos lo permita, emitiremos una
nueva comunicación. Por ahora, sepa Venezuela que a Franklin Brito no
pudo vencerlo la agresión, no pudo atemorizarlo la amenaza ni pudo
doblegarlo la oferta corrupta. Por eso y por mucho más, en estos
tiempos de muerte y dolor Franklin Brito es símbolo de decencia y
vida.

Estamos seguros que el alma de Franklin, desde el reino de nuestro
señor Jesucristo, nos seguirá iluminando. ¡Porque su lucha, que debe
ser lucha de todos, CONTINÚA!”

 
Aug
27
2010
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Venezuela to overhaul police as homicides soar

This article was originally posted by Reuters Africa

Beset by one of the world’s highest murder rates, Venezuela has set a two-year deadline to clean up its police forces, an official said on Thursday, as the opposition attacked President Hugo Chavez’s record on crime before a legislative election.

Soraya El Achkar, who heads the government body in charge of creating a National Police force, said the South American nation’s city and state police forces had been given strict new guidelines on weapons and training.

“We are moving from a repressive to a preventitive model of policing,” said El Achkar, a human rights activist who defends victims of police brutality.

“The police forces have two years to reform.”

If police forces do not meet new requirements such as clear gun identification and more street patrols before the deadline, they may disappear, El Achkar said.

The government’s poor record on tackling crime has dominated the race for Sept. 26 parliamentary elections, with opposition parties accusing Chavez of doing little about the problem.

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