Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he will nationalise any privately-owned supermarkets and food storage facilities caught hoarding inventories or violating price controls imposed on basic goods.
Accusing private companies of hoarding beef and other foods, Chavez warned supermarket owners and distributors that he would nationalise their facilities as soon as they gave him "an excuse."
"If they remain committed to violating the interests of the people, the constitution, the laws, I'm going to take the food storage units, corner stores, supermarkets and nationalize them," Chavez said during a televised broadcast. "So prepare yourselves!"
Chavez has been intent on nationalising "strategic" sectors of the economy since winning re-election in December. He has moved quickly to buy out private interests in leading electricity and phone companies since the National Assembly gave him authority to enact sweeping measures by decree and accelerate the country's socialist transformation.
Earlier this week the government signed deals to buy stakes in local companies owned by two US corporations - Verizon Communications Inc and CMS Energy Corp. There are no major US interests, however, involved in the supermarket or food storage business in Venezuela.
Industry and Commerce Minister Maria Cristina said the pending decree would give the Chavez government, working through municipal authorities and neighborhood councils, authority over food distribution and sales if private companies such as supermarket chains halt their operations.
Many privately owned supermarkets have suspended sales of beef, milk and sugar in recent weeks after one chain was temporarily shut down for hours for pricing meat above government-set levels. Most items can still be found, but only by paying higher prices at grocery stores or on the black market.
AP