Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Venezuela Says Economy to Move Away From Capitalism

bloomberg | 28.08.2004 01:41 | Venezuela

moving away from capitalism, huh? towards a "social" economy? let's just hope "Chavez doesn't get too scary..."

 http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=a_E3IgjIzTwQ&refer=latin_america

Venezuela Says Economy to Move Away From Capitalism

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the country's economy must move away from capitalism and eliminate ``large'' land holdings.

Chavez, who won a recall vote against him on Aug. 15, said the country's businessmen should help the government change the world's fifth-largest oil supplier into a ``humanist'' economy from a ``neo-liberal'' one.

``I call on private businessmen to work together with us to build the new economy, transforming the capitalist economic model into a social, humanist and equality economy,'' Chavez said during a televised speech in Caracas. ``The time has come to accelerate the transformation. The revolution has just begun.''

Chavez, 50, who counts Cuban President Fidel Castro among his friends, said in his weekly address to the nation on Aug. 8 that the referendum on whether to remove him from office was an attempt by the U.S. -- which purchases 60 percent of Venezuela's oil exports -- to replace him with a pro-American government.

The former lieutenant colonel survived a two-day coup attempt in 2002 and two-month national strike last year aimed at ousting him.

Chavez said he plans to apply more rigorously the country's Land Law, which allows the government to confiscate unused land.

``We have to eliminate large land holdings in Venezuela,'' Chavez said. ``What we've done so far has been very, very superficial.''

The government may seek to replace some central bank directors in order to have more control over the bank, which is the only major institution in the country that has remained ``somewhat independent'' of Chavez, said Miguel Octavio, executive director of Caracas brokerage BBO Financial Services.

`Tougher'

``Everybody expects Chavez to get tougher and deepen the revolution,'' Octavio said in a telephone interview. ``Chavez has to walk a fine line though, since oil people are willing to invest here as long as Chavez doesn't get too scary.''

The economy grew 23 percent in the first half as oil production recovered from the strike that cost $10 billion, according to the government. Oil sales account for about half of government income and 80 percent of exports.

Talks between the government and businessmen, such as the meeting yesterday between Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega and the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce, are unlikely to improve relations because of a mutual mistrust, Octavio said.

`Whatever It Wants'

``The government is going to do whatever it wants,'' Octavio said. ``The private sector just doesn't trust him.''

Carlos Fernandez, the previous president of Venezuela's largest business organization, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, was arrested for treason last year after leading the strike that cut oil output as much as 95 percent. He fled the country when a judge freed him after a month under house arrest.

The organization's leader before Fernandez, Pedro Carmona, replaced Chavez as president for less than a day during the failed coup and afterward was granted asylum in Colombia.

``When I talk about dialogue, let no one be mistaken,'' Chavez said. ``The dialogue is to advance, to implement the constitution.''

bloomberg

Comments

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech