I downed many a Polar beer when I worked In Venezuela. Good stuff.
Posted on 07/10/2010 12:26:49 AM PDT by Stultis
As in all major government takeovers of private companies in Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez declared that seizing beer-and-food giant Polar's facilities here would mark another victory for the poor in the country's march toward socialism.
"Why is it that Polar has so much money?" Chávez asked in a February speech
...
Except this time, the president's plans went badly awry,
...
Polar [fought] back by taking its case to the Supreme Court, [and] its employees have risen up, too, rallying in opposition to Chávez's edict and holding all-night vigils to prevent a takeover.
...
employees said they oppose the government intervention because they think workers have fared badly at nationalized companies, where they have faced reduced wages and been unable to bargain collectively.
"At no time have we been taken into account and asked to say if we agree," said Richard Prieto, head of one of the two unions that represent more than 800 workers here.
Workers also said Polar offers wages and benefits that far outstrip those of other employers in Venezuela, including the state.
"We are saying no because we have seen the experiences of other expropriated companies," said Juan Tacoa, president of the other union. "Here in Polar, we have benefits we know we would not have with the government."
...
The revolt against the president's plans has been particularly embarrassing because it has come during a roiling scandal involving the state's mismanagement of food distribution. Over the past two months, tens of thousands of tons of imported food bound for state-subsidized markets has been found rotting at ports and in warehouses. Petróleos de Venezuela, the state oil company, was responsible for distributing the food, which included chickens, cereal and powdered milk.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Are you expressing approval of the car bombing of Milián?!
They can see it for what it is. They like it. Tyranny always has its supporters.
We can only hope that this attitude goes viral and that it becomes deadly for chavez. It also may give US workers a hint of things to come with obami leading the way.
Limbaugh’s trenchant construction yesterday,paraphrased: Nobody questions that Chavez is trying to destroy capitalism, they just report it as fact; why do people question what Obama is trying to do?
The analogy to U.S. health care are startling.
I downed many a Polar beer when I worked In Venezuela. Good stuff.
When you go to the store and can't get eggs, milk, chicken or rice -- which private store owners won't put on the shelves, or wholesalers won't supply, because Hugo's put them on price controls, at prices below the cost to produce; so he nationalizes the stores and/or the distributors and producers; but then the government does an even worse job of producing and distributing the food -- there's no need for anything to go "viral".
Same as here in Obamaland. There ain't nothing "viral" about losing your job, losing your health insurance, losing your home. EPIC FAIL always ends up right in your face.
So now Mendoza has the opportunity to stand up against Baby Huey, and do so in towering, if quiet, dignity, while Huey plays the idiot.
There's a very good chance, best I can tell as complete outsider, that Mendoza could win this current showdown, further embarrassing Huey in the process.
It would talk some real balls for Chavez to fully nationalize Polar. Per the article, Polar employs 30,000 in Venezuela (providing better pay and benefits than the government does) and is singularly responsible for 2.5 percent of the non-petroleum economy. It produces or distributes many very popular products and, even more important, gets them onto store shelves. Meanwhile, Hugo's nationalized stores can't stock their shelves, and his mismanaged government warehouses are filled with rotting food. (Polar warehouses and distribution facilities are clean, modern and efficient.)
All this is establishing quite a marked contrast between the two men.
Of course Chavez will just try to steal the election in 2012. But the more popular his opponent, and the more unpopular Chavez, the harder that will be. If Chavez lets the remaining fig leaf of democracy slip far enough, it will justify violent resistance.
How do you know they voted for that a-hole?
See, if Rome2000 was down there in Venezuela, by God he'd march right down Main Street Caracas with his six gun strapped to his side and call out Hugo in front of the Presidential palace. Anyone (with their ass actually, as opposed to imaginatively, on the line) who does less is a p*ssy.
“Why is it that Polar has so much money?”
LOL....BO’s hero.
Free and fair elections are essential to the integrity of a democracy. Will Jimmy Carter be available to certify them?
Does the military back Chavez? It always gets real dicey when the dictator calls out the military, and the military finds it’s facing relatives, neighbors and friends at the barricades.
Unfortunately Baby Huey has the Cuban military to fall back on. Castro provides this service in exchange for free oil needed to prop up Cuba's excuse for an economy.
Don't have any idea how many Cuban soldiers are in Venezuela, but I would expect the number is significant. And they will likely be "surged" for elections.
But still, if Chavez has to go that route, all protective impostures of democracy will be forever lost to him. He will be forever hated by those he rules. The threat of ending his career at the end of a rope will thenceforth hang over him.
So he'll try to avoid that. I suppose the hope is that, in the process, he'll lose his nerve and concede to losing power.
You’re correct of course! Therefore, I hereby expropriate her in the name of the revolution!!
(ad hominem attack alert) Douchebag says ?
The article mentions one such case. The governor of the state where these facilities are located decided to support Polar:
Among those who joined the uprising was Henri Falcón, the popular governor of Lara state, a former ally of Chávez's who says the president has not considered long-term consequences when nationalizing companies.I believe I saw another press account noting that governor Falcón had a meeting (or meetings?) with Polar owner Mendoza. I don't recall whether that was after this most recent crisis developed, or sometime before. (Chavez has been threatening Polar/Mendoza since February or April, IIRC.)
"The president arrives and it occurs to him to say, 'This has to be expropriated,' without taking into account the technical or legal criteria," Falcon said in an interview last week. "We oppose this because it does not make sense. It is more an impulse of the president."
When you have the richest man in South America on one hand, and on the other hand you have a lunatic who appears to be losing his grip, you gotta at least think about changing sides.
I'd bet Mendoza, and others like him, have been taking lots of interesting meetings in recent months.
Don't know how that one came out.
Anyway, it was in the same state, and was when the governor resigned from Chavez' party.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/la-fg-venezuela-vigil-20100512,0,6693834.story
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