Published: Sep 5, 2005 CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - A state governor allied to leftist President Hugo Chavez has ordered Venezuelan troops to seize an abandoned tomato-processing plant owned by the H.J. Heinz Co., a state official said Monday.
Posted on 09/05/2005 4:07:03 PM PDT by TheOtherOne
Governor Orders Venezuelan Troops to Seize Heinz Tomato Plant, Saying It Abandoned
Published: Sep 5, 2005 CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - A state governor allied to leftist President Hugo Chavez has ordered Venezuelan troops to seize an abandoned tomato-processing plant owned by the H.J. Heinz Co., a state official said Monday.
The plant in the eastern state of Monagas still belongs to Heinz but hasn't been used for years, said Angelica Rivero, a spokeswoman for the governor.
"The governor decided to seize the plant so it can be protected from looters and later be put to use," Rivero said.
Monagas Gov. Jose Gregorio Briceno told the state-run Bolivarian News Agency the plant changed hands several times under previous governments before Heinz purchased it in 1997 and later ceased operations.
Debbie Foster, a spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh-based food company, said the plant had not been used for eight to 10 years but gave no other comment.
Officials were expected to expropriate the plant, a move that would require the Venezuelan National Assembly to declare the property to be of "public interest." It wasn't immediately clear whether soldiers were posted at the plant Monday.
Chavez, a close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro who says he supports socialism, has said the government may expropriate the property of companies whose factories are idle or partially paralyzed in order to put them back to work.
One nearby town, Caicara, suffered because of the actions of the "transnational monopoly," Briceno told the state news agency, known by its Spanish initials ABN.
"At that time I was mayor of that town and I felt impotent, my hands tied, as 30 million kilos (66 million pounds) of tomatoes ... were produced, and the closing of the business led the farm workers to go broke," Briceno told ABN.
Venezuela's constitution says the government will respect private property but that the state may expropriate property if for public use or "social interest," as long as compensation is paid.
So far this year, the government has expropriated the assets of a failed paper company and an industrial valve maker.
The governor's order to seize the tomato plant came as Venezuela's largest food producer, Alimentos Polar, said it was challenging the legality of a military takeover of its storage facilities in the southernwestern state of Barinas.
AP-ES-09-05-05 1808EDT
LOL!
Ter=ray-sa, you are being paged!
Whoever owns the mustard plant is scared sh*tless right now.
Shocking! What's PETV got to say?
Oh Lovie, have you seen the story in today's paper?
ROTFLMAO! That's a good one!
Although through it all I couldn't give up my Heinz Ketchup, after all Heinz was a Republican.
Yeah, I wonder what that broad is going to say about this?
"Yeah, I wonder what that broad is going to say about this?"
Fools, they have nothing without the hot-dog factory! Bwahahahah
"Only one solution to this predicament....9 gin soaked raisins."
I hate to agree with Mama T, but I KNOW people with arthritis who were not happy with the prescription drugs they tried and SWEAR by the gin soaked raisins. They say their joints have not felt better in years. Only one person I know out of 5 who have tried this remedy said it had little effect.
I have updated my FMCDH (From My Cold Dead Hands) sign-off with the addition of (BITS).....Blood In The Streets, which I foresee coming soon, due to the enormous increase of the Marxist progressive movement being shoved down the throat of this failing REPUBLIC through the Judicial tyranny of fiat law, the passing of unconstitutional laws by the Legislative and Executive branches of our government and the enormous tax burden placed upon the average American to support unconstitutional programs put forth by Marxist ideology.
I do not advocate revolution. I only think of what I foresee.
FMCDH(BITS)
"The governor decided to seize the plant so it can be protected from looters and later be put to use." Well, could you just ask for anything nicer. That Hugo.
Castro II but with oil money. This nut needs to be watched closely.
Bwaahhaaahaaa
Is that a tell-tale buldge in those britches?
Reverrahnnd Jackson and Fidel Chavez can organize a food driver for NO flood victims, ketchup with the fries
Looks like they're forcing John Effin' Kerry to come off that fence and make a firm denunciation of Hugo Chavez, just as he did when he was in Vietnam (did you know he was there?) winning 3 purple hearts and in anguish of the death and destruction caused by his buddies in the US War Machine blah-blah, blah blah, blah-blah-blah blah, blah-blah, blah blah, blah-blah-blah, blah....
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