VENEZUELA: Venezuela is accelerating its expropriation of local agribusinesses and extending state control over foreign oil and mining industries, fulfilling President Hugo Chavez's "revolutionary" agenda.
Hugo de los Reyes Chavez, governor of the province of Barinas and the president's father, on Monday issued a decree expropriating a flour-milling plant belonging to Polar, Venezuela's largest food company.
The expropriation of some of Polar's assets, thus far apparently without the prospect of compensation, heralds a new, more integrated phase in the government's land redistribution programme.
In recent weeks dozens of rural estates have been "intervened in" by officials from the national land institute, often accompanied by the military.
It is not clear whether the Polar plant will be handed to a farm workers' co-operative, as has been the case with other land expropriations, or whether the assets will be transferred to new business groups.
Mr Chavez says he will eliminate large landholdings as part of a drive to introduce what he terms "socialism of the 21st century". But the move against landowners, who see the policy as a flagrant violation of property rights and due legal process, parallels a policy of extending government control over the heavy industries sector.
Rafael Ramirez, the energy minister, said this week that the government might take over oilfields operated by multinationals if the companies failed to comply with a new legal operating framework by the end of the year.
Oil companies are required to sign transitory operating contracts ahead of converting them into joint ventures with Petroleos de Venezuela, the state-owned oil company, in which the state will hold a majority stake.
Patrick Esteruelas, Latin America analyst at Eurasia Group, said that while local agribusinesses such as Polar were likely to see expropriation, foreign oil and mining firms faced a different challenge. "More strategic companies are likely to face tighter terms but are not likely to see their assets expropriated," said Mr Esteruelas.
Mr Chavez said last week that a gold mining area known as Las Cristinas "belonged to the state". - (Financial Times Service)