Chavez Approves Economy Laws (confiscation of private land)

dailynews.yahoo.com ^ | November 14, 2001 | AP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez announced the completion of a package of laws aimed at jump-starting the economy - laws he was granted special authority to enact without parliamentary debate.

Chavez spoke Tuesday on national television, less than two hours before the fast-track, yearlong legislative powers expired at midnight. The government completed at least 15 of the 48 laws in the last two weeks, defying critics who predicted the Cabinet would be too disorganized to finish the task.

A land reform law determines how the government can usurp idle, private land. On Monday in downtown Caracas, hundreds of farmers protested the government's failure to publicly discuss the content of that law.

But Chavez insisted Tuesday that all the laws had been widely discussed among ``lawyers, economists, social activists, peasants and farmers.''

In a new hydrocarbons law, the government sought to mollify private foreign oil executives who wanted flexible royalties rates for companies that operate the state-owned oil fields. The government originally proposed a fixed rate of 30 percent, up from the current 16.6 percent, but decided to allow rates as low as 20 percent for high-risk projects.

The pro-government Congress granted Chavez the fast-track powers last year despite opposition complaints that some laws were too sensitive to exclude from parliamentary debate.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

HUGO CHAVEZ SUPPORTERS ATTACK PARENTS protesting education takeover

[Chapita]

My family had friends in the State of Bolivar who owned three ranches, the largest being 18 miles by 24 miles with the Caroni River passing through. Most of the people working on it were born there and had never been north of the Orinoco River.

There was always the concern that the government would just take their land, and that was back in the early sixties.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

(06-11-01) Venezuela's Chavez Declares Revolutionary Campaign ("anti-imperialist revolution") ---- Among the ``revolutionary laws'' whose preparation Chavez said he was personally supervising, the Venezuelan leader mentioned a land law that would target owners of vast unproductive estates. ``What do these estate owners think, that they're just going to merrily carry on?'' he said.

Chavez also lambasted members of Venezuela's business elite who have been among his most vociferous critics. Blaming them for opposition campaigns against him and conspiracies to destabilize his government, he also accused many of them of failing to pay taxes and falsely declaring business losses.

(06-25-01) Venezuelan Land Reform Pits Rich Against Poor--- Texera and other Choroni residents said the squatters had support from local politicians hoping to win election, and claim they threatened neighboring landowners with violence.

``The incendiary rhetoric of the president has awakened a lot of hate within the country's impoverished classes,'' said Jose Ruiz, head of the ranchers association of Portuguesa state where a farmer was recently murdered by alleged land invaders.

``They call us land invaders, but we are not, we are the natives here,'' said Leon, standing outside his shack beside a red flag of Chavez wearing his trademark paratrooper's beret. ''The invaders were the ones who expanded the national park so we had no-where left to live.''

(09-09-01) Venezuela's Chavez Takes First Step to Land Reform (heavy taxation, confiscation, eviction)--- ` I take this opportunity to call on all those who have a lot of land and are not using it to voluntarily put it at our disposal. And if they do not, we will have no alternative but to turn the screw on them,'' said Chavez, wearing his trademark military fatigues.

On privately owned land, Marco Maldonado (L) and his sister Yelisa (R) rest in their illegaly built tin hut as their mother Carmen sits by in San Cristobal, October 5, 2001.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' "revolutionary" agrarian reform, that plans to break up large private estates and give land to the poor, could cause chaos in the countryside, landowners' groups claim. REUTERS/Kimberly White

[Cincinatus' Wife]

It looks like Chavez has dictatorial rule.

[Restorer]

''The invaders were the ones who expanded the national park so we had no-where left to live.''

Always wondered about this. Environmentalists just don't care what happens to these people. The people aren't part of the environment they want to protect.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I think the people of Venezuela have more to worry about at the moment than environmentalists.

Hugo Chavez has taken over the educational curriculum, the congress,
the judiciary and now the private land. He calls it a peaceful revolution.
I don't think the poor of Venezuela will benefit from this, do you?

[Restorer]

I don't think the poor of Venezuela will benefit from this, do you?

Pretty unlikely. OTOH, he did gain power (more or less) democratically and he claims to want to help poor people, so how can he possibly be bad for the country? < / > Sarcasm

[Cincinatus' Wife]

(July 17, 2001) Chávez support fragile, but remains intact (growing unease of drift toward dictatorship)--[Excerpt] "The poor still hold on to this idea Chávez chants to them that he will topple the rich and raise up the poor, that he is their redeemer," says Elias Pino Iturrieta, director of history at the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas.

In an effort to keep the fires of popularity burning, Chávez has taken recent controversial steps that have kindled fears of a return to dictatorship in Venezuela.

Last month, for example, Chávez announced a plan to form "Bolivarian circles," neighborhood clubs that would instill the principles of the 19th-century hero such as moral character, love of country, and solidarity. That plan immediately stoked fears that Chávez, feeling besieged, really wants a network similar to Cuba's Revolutionary Defense Committees.-[End Excerpt]

[zeugma]

Not a good sign. Property rights are(is?) one of the fundamental anchors of liberty. I'll be interested in seeing what The Economist has to say about this.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I'll be interested in seeing what The Economist has to say about this.

It can't be favorable.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Darci Frigo receives the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award from Ethel Kennedy (L) and Sen. Ted Kennedy on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. November 20, 2001. Frigo won the award for his work defending the poor and the landless in Brazil. REUTERS/Win McNamee

I expect the next recipient to be Marxist Hugo Chavez.

Last six months of Chavez's Reignin Venezuela.

[lavaroise]

Jump starting the economy or spreading by force the Chavez religion? Every one knows you do not mutilate people to jump start an economy.

[lavaroise]

Darci Frigo receives the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award from Ethel Kennedy (L) and Sen. Ted Kennedy on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. November 20, 2001. Frigo won the award for his work defending the poor and the landless in Brazil. REUTERS/Win McNamee

So these are our terrorists helping the terrorists abroad. Gees, I fear 9-11 was not enough to completely purge congress of evil cults.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Sinn Fein head in Cuba to thank Castro for support

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuela's Chavez Threatens to Nationalize Banks [Excerpt]-- CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez threatened on Saturday to nationalize banks that fail to observe legislation requiring them to lend at least 15 percent of their loan portfolio to small farmers.

``We can nationalize any bank that does not observe the law,'' Chavez said in a speech in Venezuela's National Assembly. ``Not only can we nationalize any bank, any banker that does not abide by the law could go to jail.'' [End Excerpt]

____________________________________________________________

Hugo fiddles --[Excerpt]-- The Hydrocarbons Law will regulate future oil operations in the world's fourth largest petroleum-exporting nation.

National and foreign businessmen have sharply criticized the oil sector law, arguing that its combination of higher royalty taxes and majority state control of new projects will damage Venezuela's image in the eyes of foreign investors. [End Excerpt]

[Wallace T.]

Hopefully, this country has a Pinochet willing to take down this Marxist regime. Unlike Kissinger, however, I don't see Colin Powell as wanting to use U.S. influence to help an anti-Communist insurgency.

The situation in the Caribbean, Central America and northern South America is dangerous, a fact that even the conservative press has not sufficiently acknowledged. Chavez is imposing a Communist regime in Venezuela incrementally. Columbia, essentially a narco-state, suffers from guerilla armies that control major portions of that nation. The Red Chinese have a important presence in the Panama Canal. Daniel Ortega is a threat to the stability of Nicaragua. After 42 years of dictatorship, Fidel Castro still rides high in Cuba.

The great game of nations did not end with the breakup of the USSR. It is my fear that the United States, preoccupied with Middle Eastern and Asian matters, may not act decisively in its own back yard. Anti-American states in the Caribbean basin, in alliance with China and possibly a neo-Communist or nationalist Russia, could attempt to destabilize Mexico and flood the U.S. with cheap narcotics. Additionally, seaborne commerce to our Gulf ports and Latin American oil imports to the U.S. would be threatened.

Decisive action is needed to protect America's interests.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I appreciate your comments. You might like to add them to this thread. Foreign policy a Bush forte?

The Left is determined to block Bush's nominee for secretary of state for Western Hemispheric Affairs. Stop Otto Reich.org

FREE OTTO "I need Otto Reich in place," Secretary of State Colin Powell pleaded with senators on October 3. Eight weeks later, Reich's State Department office literally remains empty, its desk unoccupied and bookshelves bare. Even as an overworked career diplomat juggles crucial security and economic matters in Reich's absence, Dodd could care less.

"That nomination's not going anywhere. That's the end of it," Dodd recently snapped. He has hurled at Reich a number of easily refuted ethical charges pertaining to his 1980s service as director of State's Office of Public Diplomacy and as Ambassador to Venezuela. However Dodd will not let his subcommittee hear Reich defend himself. Perhaps Dodd fears looking foolish once Reich demonstrates his innocence.

Bush nominee deserves better than old grudges [Excerpt]As America embarks on a long-term war against international terrorism, it is essential that President Bush have his foreign policy team in place. Unfortunately, one Democratic senator is still fighting the Cold War and is settling old ideological scores by blocking Senate action on a key State Department nominee.

Otto Reich was nominated on July 12 to be assistant secretary of state for Western Hemispheric Affairs. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not even bothered to schedule Fa confirmation hearing for Reich, and has no plans to do so. The reasons have nothing to do with Reich's competence or qualifications, and everything to do with Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd's affinity for Cuba's Fidel Castro and the communist Sandanista regime in Nicaragua. [End Excerpt]

Russia in Venezuela shopping for launch facility site

[xsmommy]

kudos on your continuing expose on the dictator, Chavez, CW. and good morning to you!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thanks for the bump and hello xsmommy.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.