Venezuela's Chavez Grabs Steel Co.

(AP)  President Hugo Chavez's government has decided to nationalize Venezuela's largest steel maker, just days after announcing the takeover of major cement companies, the vice president said Wednesday.

Vice President Ramon Carrizalez announced the move on state radio Wednesday morning, noting the nationalization comes after months of difficult negotiations between the steel maker Sidor and its workers, who have been demanding better salaries and benefits.

Carrizalez, who held talks with union and company representatives early Wednesday, said Chavez did not want to permit the labor conflict to continue. The government tried to help reach an agreement but the company "didn't give in," Carrizalez said, according to the state-run Bolivarian News Agency.

"They wanted the government's support for the brutal system they used in that company, and of course this is a government that supports the workers," Carrizalez said.

He said one option would be for the government to take about 60 percent of the company, with the company's owners keeping a minority share.

Carlos Becerra, a leader of the Unified Union of Steel Industry Workers, told The Associated Press that Carrizalez informed the union and company representatives that the government will immediately nationalize Sidor.

Sidor's parent company, Luxembourg-based Ternium SA, is controlled by Argentine-Italian conglomerate Techint Group.

The company - whose formal name is Siderurgica del Orinoco - was privatized in 1998.

Workers have held protests at Sidor's steel plans in the eastern state of Bolivar, at times clashing with police.

Chavez on Sunday said he had instructed Carrizalez to meet with union leaders to discuss the situation. Chavez said the government "has to demand with great firmness that any company ... comply with Venezuelan laws."

The nationalization of key industries has been a centerpiece of Chavez's socialist agenda in the past two years. The government took majority control of telecommunications and electricity companies last year, along with Venezuela's last remaining privately run oil projects.

Chavez also announced plans to nationalize major cement companies last week, and his government is now in talks on the terms with Mexico's Cemex SAB, France's Lafarge SA and Switzerland's Holcim Ltd.

Venezuela plans to assume at least 60 percent ownership in the cement businesses, and has said the foreign companies will have the option of staying on as minority partners.

Becerra said union and company representatives were present at a meeting early Wednesday where Carrizalez announced the government's stance on the steel maker.

Another union leader, Nerio Fuentes, told the Venezuelan television station Globovision that company workers "have taken possession" of the steel maker's facilities.

Ternium's shares on the New York Stock Exchange were down more than 9 percent after the news in early trading.

Ternium owns 60 percent of Sidor, while the Venezuelan government holds 20 percent and the remainder is in the hands of current and former employees.

Last year, Chavez warned Sidor's owners that he might nationalize the steel maker,

[libsrweak]

these pro chavez liberals are so deep on denial that even if chavez has a baseball bat shoved up thier arses, they would find EVERY AND ANY EXCUSE to justify that bat up thier arses

[libh8er]

Hey Hillary & Ubama......are you taking notes on how this is done? I KNOW this is in your playbooks for "big oil".....

[heraldtkel]

This guy needs to be killed by his people and dragged through the dirty streets. www.theoandavirus.com

[beehive21-2009]

The USA should grab the oil industry (Nationalize),ASAP look what the big oil is doing to common people .How did we ever allow Robber Barons to get away with ruining the American Dream ? whats that you say, they ''ll swing for what they done ,? when ? soon.

[lloydbest1]

Posted by rushman71 at 11:04 AM : Apr 10, 2008

Yeah, I gotta side with rushman on this one. Just simply being anti Bush is not enough. So is Kim Il Jung. That does not make him my hero.
As it is with Chavez. He is obviously clever. You don''t get to be a high ranking army officer as an indegene in as snooty a society as Upper Class Venezuela by being stupid. But is he ethical?? Is he really for his people or merely himself and his cronies?
We have a similar drama being acted out on a much smaller scale in a severly disfunctional metropolis in Michigan. Kwame Kilpatrick was elected mayor in 2001 and was hailed as Detroit''s hope. And he did seem to get the ball rolling toward the recovery of that Grecian tragedy that Detroit has become. Unfortuantely he got a bit too big for his stretch pants and things began to unravel. I don''t have room for the details but they can be had by Googl''ing the Detroit Free Press.
My point here is power will corrupt and the more you have the more corrupt you become. The political system is irrelavent: Socialism, Capitalism, Communism, Fascism, Monarchism...Whatever-ism; it''s not important. The checks and balances built into the political process are and right now there aren''t very many in Venezuela. I am afraid that however well intentioned Chavez may be now, he''ll end up stripping the wealthy, give a pittance to the poor and keep the rest for himself. That''s not the wisest or fairest distribution of a nation''s resource.

[rushman71]

I don,t live in venezuela so i don,t care but I like
Chavez because he tell bush to kiss off
Posted by popstom1

Uhh, I believe this is the perfect example of a shrub!!! This is the lamest comment I have read yet!!! Come on, now!!! There has got to be more up there in that head of yours other than a pea!!!

[rushman71]

Chavez not only seems sincere, his actions are sincere to his people.
Posted by milesbrown49

Seems to me that you have been paying too much attention to his "act" instead of his "actions". Open your eyes a little bit more. Maybe, just maybe, you might see the truth right before you!!!

[milesbrown49]

scottyusa: Its amazing to me the mentality of some. You can''t evene imagine that Chavez is really trying to do right by his people. The applicable parable here is: "We preceive others as we are ourselves". Even after the current policies continue to fail in America, we would rather look at those who are doing well and decide it is only through deception, when our own govenment is the only one deceiving us for greed. I may not agree with communism, but I do see where we need a change and a change won''t happen if we can''t learn from our mistakes and admit we were wrong about this whole Bush thing. Take what lessons other countries have to offer and move on to build a better USA. Chavez not only seems sincere, his actions are sincere to his people.

[popstom1]

I don,t live in venezuela so i don,t care but I like
Chavez because he tell bush to kiss off

[rational_1]

In theory the government might run the companies as well, and treat their workers better, but in practice its agencies are almost as corrupt as the corporations they are taking over from, and less experienced in the management specifics.
Posted by burneb at 06:33 PM : Apr 09, 2008

Ya, and in theory pigs could fly if you strapped rocket engines to them, but in practice it never seems to turn out as well as one might hope. Chavez is ensuring that Venezuela remains a banana republic for at least another generation. Maybe he''s hoping they''ll turn into an economic powerhouse like Cuba.