AFP. 30 January 2002. Chavez moves toward nationalization of agriculture in Venezuela; Chavez government cool to proposal to end Venezuela strike.
CARACAS -- Saying he wants to "deepen the economic revolution" Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that his government would seize state-owned agricultural storage facilities used by private businesses and redistribute idle land. The leftist-populist president said Thursday he was determined to "transform the socioeconomic model and its structures." In a speech to a group of farmers and food producers, Chavez said his government would create a state-owned corporation to control food storage and production of fertilizer. He also promised to redistribute one million hectares of idle land to needy farmers, and require banks to provide loans to finance cultivation of that land. Earlier, Chavez's government reacted coolly to an opposition proposal to end the strike, with a top official neither endorsing nor rejecting the plan. "The fact that we respect all the actions within the constitution to obtain the goals of one sector of the nation does not mean the government must endorse the initiative," Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton told Union Radio. The government "has no interest in undoing itself, either by seeking early elections or by any change of government even within the constitutional framework." Chaderton's comments were the first official reaction to an opposition proposal for a constitutional amendment shortening Chavez's mandate and scheduling early elections, along with the reinstatement of fired executives of the state-owned oil company, a key battleground of the strike which began December 2. Ali Rodriguez, president of Petroleos de Venezuela, said 5,100 of the company's more than 38,000 employees had been fired. Chavez wants prosecutors to file criminal charges against sacked employees who have led the strike. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international -- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
