Via the AP: Chavez: Will Nationalize Telecoms, Power:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced plans Monday to nationalize the country’s electrical and telecommunications companies, calling them “strategic sectors” that should be in the hands of the nation. The New York Stock Exchange immediately halted trading in CANTV, Venezuela’s largest publicly traded company, which was singled out in Chavez’ speech. The decision was also likely to affect Electricidad de Caracas, owned by AES Corp.
“All of those sectors that in an area so important and strategic for all of us as is electricity _ all of that which was privatized, let it be nationalized, Chavez said in a televised speech after swearing in a new Cabinet.“C.A. Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela (CANTV), let it be nationalized,” Chavez said. “The nation should recover its property of strategic sectors.”
All of a sudden I feel like I have been sent back through a wormhole in time back to the 1960s and 1970s. This move will increase Chavez’s popularity with the lower classes and will help enhance his image as a champion of the people. However, it will also likely damage the economy over time. It will discourage foreign investment and contribute to the bloating of the Venezuelan state.
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January 9th, 2024 at 9:38 am
Yes, we are witnessing the consolidation of an authoritarian regime. I have had my doubts at times, but it is really picking up the pace now that he has won another term. And he has no real opposition in congress (due to the boycott by the opposition last year) and he’s packed the courts. Now the media and other “strategic sectors.”