Venezuela takes control of 2 coffee plants

Source: Business Week

President Hugo Chavez's government seized control of two of Venezuela's largest coffee processing plants on Monday, threatening to expropriate them if investigations reveal they have illegally smuggled coffee out of the country.

Commerce Minister Eduardo Saman said it was a temporary seizure while officials investigate whether two companies, Fama de America and Madrid, violated laws against circumventing government price controls.

If investigations reveal violations, he said, officials will "propose the expropriation" of the plants.

"In that case, the workers would take control of the business," Saman told state television, saying that authorities would occupy the plants for three months during the investigations....

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D99RGOT81.htm

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St. Hugo is going to really be in trouble if he disrupts my morning joe....

a big problem that thrived under the Gucci governments.

The citizens must be some of the worst pieces of scum on Earth. Like the Chinese people, they are just not ready for rights such as freedom of expression until these things are handled. :eyes:

With laws and everything. :wow:

And corruption is a big problem in Venezuela. It's good to see the government coming down on people who think they are too special to follow the law.

Do you know which of these stations were opposition? Do you know how many stations got their act together? Do you know what the recourse is or is your knee just on auto pilot?

Let me guess.

What are those radio stations being asked to do?

The licenses of radio and television stations that don't support Chavez simply have a habit of not being renewed. Then he can shut down these illegal stations under pretext of law.

"They're closing the space for dissidents in Venezuela" William Echeverria, head of the National Council of Journalists.

Chavez wants to run all media. That way media is 100% pro-Chavez, ensuring he will get reelected as long as he wants with no dissenting views being broadcast. He is a dictator in the making. I've seen it coming for years.

And if you chase down the National Council of Journalists, you will be directed to a number of right wing sites.

:hi:

Too many people love Chavez so much they refuse to see it. The blinders here are immense.

There are many things I will tolerate about a president, but interfering with the press -- especially interfering with press he doesn't like -- puts me 100% at odds with the now, by my definition, wanna-be dictator.

Any example I give will be blown off as him rightfully shutting down a right-wing organization or just false reports of journalist abuse designed to tarnish Chavez' image.

I didn't know anything about Chavez until I started coming here. The strong defense of him led me to wonder why seemingly bad things he did always had a justification. I learned long ago that if you have to justify too many things you're probably not on the right side. So I went out and researched on my own and now I see a dictator in the making.

Why, more precisely, do you "see" that there is a "dictator in the making"?

Anything that you can cite from your research "on your own" to corroborate your accusation?

As certain as you are, there must be many legitimate, even handed, international articles, stories, and other sources that think the same way as you.

Any examples?

Doubtful.

Examples that are based on fictions, or uncorroborated accusations, won't count, I am afraid.

And that is your fundamental weakness. Since your accusation is a baseless bit of disinformation, propagated by reactionary pigs who are facing a new, more just, economic paradigm, requiring a rational distribution of wealth and resources, it is propaganda. A lie! Spread by cowards, bought liars.

That certainly explains their persistence.

"propagated by reactionary pigs who are facing a new, more just, economic paradigm, requiring a rational distribution of wealth and resources"

Because he agrees with you politically he can do nothing wrong.

The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend.

If you want to see his abuses check out the Committee to Protect Journalists, http://www.cpj.org/.

Because you'll just claim they are a right-wing front because they challenge Saint Chavez, know that the very liberal Tom Brokaw is on their board and the liberal Walter Cronkite was their honorary chairman almost from the beginning. They are neutral and only care about press freedom.

I should have thrown in, how many radio stations complied and get to stay on the air?

Also, what is their recourse?

As far as "justifying too many things", remember that for the next time Obama has to deal with right wing propaganda.

They're off the air if Chavez doesn't like them. Recourse? None, of course, unless they want to give up their journalistic integrity and become a government puppet.

s

Just as our country can do no right, so does Venezuela, and Hamas, can do no wrong.

You know, where all the people can come and go as they please....

:rofl:

Tragically, you are a lot closer to the reality, "on the ground", than you probably realize!

Even someone who would question everything might be unaware of how much evil, inhumane, disgusting, unjust, exploitive, criminal and downright bad stuff we have to do to maintain our empire.

That is the only way, our leaders (political and corporate) believe, we are going to be able to maintain our bloated "standard of living".

Probably yours and mine are not bloated, but the super rich and the uber rich, and their enablers and upper-echelon minions, are living like almost nobody in history ever has, before now.

The USA requires about 25% of the world's output, it's production, it's resources, everything, to satiate the acquisitive consumerist urges of about 5% of the world's population.

Us! Some of us...

Those recalcitrant Venezuelans, led by Hugo Chavez, have overcome great obstacles and are now wresting their own resources from their wanna-be feudalistic, former overlords.

Not surprisingly, they are not going to allow arrangements made under odious conditions in the past, be used to perpetuate criminally exploitive arrangements, no matter how profitable to their former oppressors.

with no sign of understanding or even curiosity about the topic at hand. Why bother?

that should be the high water mark imo.

just a hunch

Are you just throwing out itty-bitty "snarks" to get reactions from those who are offended by gratuitous BS?

Why don't you tell us when the next harvest occurs and some information about the coffee harvest numbers historically.

Dropping into these threads to dump little hunks of excrement, smelling up DU and stifling reasonable discussion, reminds me of the current activities of the fascist and religious nuts, disrupting town hall meetings across America, and making a mockery of democratic processes.

:D

Kennedy's Joe4Oil program gives a tankful of Venezuelan heating oil to poor families here in New England. All the other oil companies refuse to donate.

Could a Joe4Joe program bring a tankful of Venezuelan coffee up here too? Please?

The inner circle will have tighter control of the cash crop until they pull a Mugabe.
Government control will NOT triple coffee output

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

That's an important factor.

hah

now, go back to your corporate cave

have fun

during our civil war.

Venezuela to fight the corporations.

I thought Chavez wanted to diversify the economy??

like the rest of the fincas that he "liberated" and gave to people who can't farm and have no idea what the fuck they're doing.

Lots of other places grow great coffee. Good thing we don't rely on Venezuela for it! Remember, Juan Valdez is COLUMBIAN!! And they got an awful lotta coffee in Brazil!

EVERYBODY SING-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVGXcjM9SOQ

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Are you just throwing out itty-bitty "snarks" to get reactions from those who are offended by gratuitous BS?

Why don't you tell us when the next harvest occurs and some information about the coffee harvest numbers historically.

-- The government is investigating the contraband of 10,000 tons of coffee to Colombia.

-- Because coffee is subsidized in Venezuela, smugglers can get two to three times the price in Colombia.

-- The government is investigating all links in the coffee-distribution chain.

-- The two plants temporarily seized (for 90 days) control 80 percent of the coffee market in Venezuela.

-- The two plants have been accused of distorting the market by blocking small and medium conpanies from entering the distribution and production system.

-- The government has released 16,000 quintales from its strategic reserve to provide supplies until the next harvest late this year. (One quintal = 100 pounds in U.S.)

-- The Association of Coffee Producers has endorsed the government's action against the two plants.

-- And the irony of ironies, the demand for "cafecitos" (small cups of coffee that are a cultural/social feature of daily Venezuelan life) has gone up significantly because of higher wages the Chavez government has decreed in recent years.

The propaganda is pitched to the people who are least likely to care about the facts, as they are easy to manipulate, so unlikely to require more reporting when they can get so much emotional mileage with a few mangled, misleading claims.

The actual truth always takes so much longer to discover.

"The Association of Coffee Producers has endorsed the government's action against the two plants."

This is, again, very much worth waiting to hear.

http://www.aurorawdc.com.nyud.net:8090/ci/uribe.jpg http://www.pslweb.org.nyud.net:8090/images/content/pagebuilder/46194.jpg http://www.cbc.ca.nyud.net:8090/gfx/images/news/photos/2009/01/13/alvaro-uribe-cp-6085007.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/03Du7dd7A44hu/610x.jpg



_Bush's Sec. of Commerce, Cuban "exile" Carlos Gutierrez is the sport in the crowd with the
little hand waving at his fellow right-winger, Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe, who just
happens to be passing by on his horsie, drinking his cup of Colombian coffee.

Also, you've pretty much proven why things like subsidies and price controls don't work.

do you support Hugo?
are you a thug?

if yes, apply within

wrong.

to work at Coffee Hugo, Radio Hugo, Aero Hugo,
Hugo Steel, Hugo Oil Field Services,
Banco Hugo.

etc etc etc,
you have to be one of his supporters

Sorry about your conspiracy theory, though.

I needed them for Farmville.

wasn't there supposed to be an "investigation"??

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32302761/ns/world_news-venezuela/


Chavez: Coffee plants to be expropriated
Government to take permanent control of the two largest companies

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan will expropriate the country's two largest coffee processing companies, President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday.

Chavez said the government will take permanent control of the Fama de America and Cafe Madrid within three months.

The government seized temporary control of the companies' this week while it investigates whether they illegally smuggled coffee out of the country to circumvent price controls.

The companies deny wrongdoing.

Chavez said on Wednesday that "they will be in the state's hands."

Coffee is one of many products that fall under price controls, and Venezuelans have faced a scarcity of coffee in recent weeks. Business leaders say the underlying problem is insufficient production.