By Gina Munsey •
March 5, 2009
Want to sell your rice for a cost higher than the government thinks you should? Or slow production to a pace lower than the government’s ideal? Try that in Venezuela, and you’ll have Hugo Chavez’ troops at your company’s doorstep.
On Saturday, Venezuela’s dictator gave orders to the military to “take control” of all rice-processing mills in the country, including some US-owned plants such as the Minnesota-based Cargill. Chavez has been enforcing price caps on food commodities since 2003, and is angered by the rice companies’ recent decisions to reduce production rates in order to catch up on lost profits.
By Levi Novey •
July 29, 2008
Several weeks ago, Venezuela President Hugo Chávez provided free energy-saving light bulbs to some low-income residents of Houston, Texas. This magnanimous act probably gained him a few American fans. In late March of this year, he also announced his plan to fund “an energy revolution” in Venezuela.
The revolution has an emphasis on using Venezuelan produced products like PVC pipes to construct homes. Another major component of the revolution includes an initiative to make Venezuela more self-sufficient in food production, thus quelling the need to import food. Projects to provide additional electrical power through alternative energies like wind and solar technologies are also commencing.
The most notable and measurable success to date for the so-called energy revolution, however, has been Venezuela’s effort to change out standard light bulbs across the country for CFLS (energy-saving compact flourescent light bulbs) exactly like those Chávez donated to Texans. So far, 72.3 million light bulbs have been changed. But the story is perhaps not as simple as it would seem (as is almost any story about Chávez and his schemes).
By Gavin Hudson •
April 1, 2008
George Bush and Hugo Chavez, former political enemies, announced plans this morning to dismantle the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, replacing it instead with the North American Fair Trade Agreement, also NAFTA.
“The new agreement marks a turning point in US-Venezuela relations,” said Juan Johnston of the North American Monitor of Bribery in Latin America (NAMBLA). “It also underscores the magnitude of recent growth in demand for ethically produced goods.”
By Michael dEstries •
January 5, 2007
So much for pristine wilderness. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is building momentum behind the Southern Gas Pipeline; a proposed 21-billion-dollar (U.S.) structure that would connect Venezuela's rich natural gas fields to Argentine markets. Unfortunately, such a pipeline would cross some very ecologically-sensitive areas, including Brazil's Amazon rain forest. Maria Eugenia Bustamante, co-director of AMIGRANSA, a Venezuelan environmental group, had this to say,
