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.
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.