Hugo Chavez's "Drive-By Socialism"

Venezuelan Dictator Halts Mall Construction In Favor Of A Hospital Or University

(AP)  President Hugo Chavez says he was heading through downtown Caracas when he was shocked by the sight of a huge, nearly finished shopping mall amid the high-rise offices and apartments.

"They had already built a monster there," Chavez said. "I passed by there just recently and said, 'What is this? My God!"'

So the often-impulsive president told an allied mayor to halt construction and said this prime block of urban real estate should be expropriated. He said the sprawling six-story building might be put to better use as a hospital or university.

The exercise in drive-by socialism illustrates Chavez's tendency to govern from his gut, and to leap in when he thinks other government agencies - in this case city planners - aren't doing their job.

The new Sambil mall was scheduled to open in the La Candelaria district early next year, packed with 273 shops, movie theaters and offices. Chavez complained - with reason, some experts say - that it would add yet more traffic to an area that's already so crowded "not a soul fits."

"Stop it, Mr. Mayor. And we're going to review all of it. And we're going to expropriate that and turn it into a hospital - I don't know - a school, a university," Chavez said during his weekly broadcast on Sunday.

The newly elected mayor of the district, Chavez ally Jorge Rodriguez, told the president he would get the job done, though how remains unclear. Neither he nor Chavez spelled out possible compensation.

"There's a lot of concern because all of this was knocked down from one day to the next," said Victor Maldonado, who leads the Caracas Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services.

He told reporters the sudden decision to freeze one of Caracas' biggest investments is an arbitrary move that threatens 3,000 jobs and has led to a "rise in uncertainty" among businesspeople.

Constructora Sambil, the company building the mall (pictured below), was closed for the holidays, and phones at its offices went unanswered.

Chavez, who has nationalized Venezuela's largest phone company, electric utilities and oil projects, suggested the property was too valuable to be left to commerce.

"How are we going to create socialism turning over vital public spaces to Sambil?" he asked.

Rodriguez, the district mayor, said Monday that downtown communities would be consulted on the "most appropriate use" for the building. "We're going to respect private property," he said.

Despite Chavez's calls for moving toward socialism, many Venezuelans have tended to ignore his exhortations to shed their consumerist habits. Shopping malls with stores such as Louis Vuitton and Timberland have sprouted up rapidly in recent years as windfall oil earnings have boosted the economy.

Yet, this particular mall a short drive down Urdaneta Avenue from the presidential palace seemed to especially irk Chavez.

Venezuelan architect Gaspar Arancibia said he agrees the mall was ill-conceived, without adequate streets to handle the traffic - a symptom of perpetually poor planning.

"I agree with the president, but it was very late. It should have been stopped a long time ago," Arancibia said.

"The president can't be making decisions of that sort. They have to be made by municipal governments," he added. "Because if everything depends on the president, we'd need to have a lot of similar presidents at the same time to solve many of our local problems."

Now that the mall is nearly built, converting it into a hospital, school or university "will mean an enormous cost," Arancibia said.

Chavez has leaped into local issues before - scolding local officials about trash collection, for example, and ordering beer trucks to stop selling alcohol on the streets.

Steve Ellner, a political science professor at Venezuela's University of the East, said Chavez sometimes tries to impose decisions when he thinks local institutions aren't performing as they should.

"Chavez, I think, is correct to a certain extent in criticizing this 'monster.' But that's not the way to do things," Ellner said. "Institutions are necessary, and I think that if this revolution is going to be successful in the long run, they have to establish new institutions in order to avoid this kind of decision-making process."

[downsteamjim]

Drive by Socialism: I would like to go by Sonic''s and see Hugo Chavez giving out free banana splits.

[toolmangler-2009]

Notice how the U.S. corporate media, including CBS News, is calling Hugo Chavez a dictator, even though they admit he was elected by a majority of the Venezuelan people.
Posted by mtee12 at 04:31 AM : Dec 23, 2008




The shrub was elected also and you see what he did to his country. Chavez is the same kind of jerk that shrub is,

[earth562]

Notice how the U.S. corporate media, including CBS News, is calling Hugo Chavez a dictator, even though they admit he was elected by a majority of the Venezuelan people. This shows once again the the U.S. corporate media is a propaganda organ of the U.S. government. You can bet that if we ever had a president that our corporate media regarded as too far to the left, the media (democrats that they are not) would be cheerleaders for a coup and the establishment of military rule.


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Posted by mtee12 at 04:31 AM : Dec 23, 2008


Mtee

I read articles from what you purport to be "Non-Corporate" and he is still considered a Dicktator and thug.
Enough with the conspiracy conspiracys

[toolmangler-2009]

Well, if thats the way hes going to be, then he can forget aout me spending Billions in business dealings in his country. I won''t spend one dime down there.
Suffer man, Suffer!!!!!!

[rrozsa-2009]

I meant to say "gun-related murders", not "gun-related numbers".... sorry for the typo.

[rrozsa-2009]

He will be run out of town on a rail if he keeps this kinda thing going on.


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Posted by AJMarine111 at 11:50 PM : Dec 22, 2008

================================================

That can only happen if civilians have weapons and can create a militia -- no dictator has ever been able to maintain control over an armed population. Since Chavez enacted strict [civilian] gun control laws in 2006, I don''t see that ever happening without some outside force helping out. And given that military assistance to oppressed foreign nations has fallen out of favor in the US, I don''t see that happening either.

But hey... At least their civilian-to-civilian gun-related numbers are way down, which was the whole justification for the strict gun control laws in the first place! ;-)

Thank you again, forefathers, for our 2nd Amendment rights.

[joethedumber]

I love reading the misspelled,rabid insults to socialism. Guess what, almost all governments are socialist!(socialism is a central gov. that takes resources(ie tax) and distributes them as it see fit) Read a book, figure out what socialism even MEANS! you all are just repeating what you heard on TV!

[jt_lancer]

''Drive-by socialism'' - also known as drive-by theft.

[mrkuren]

demslie2u2: you are messed up. Think for yourself.

[ttiwkram]

If Chavez wants to kill investment, there''s no better way to do it than seizing almost-finished projects.

[jowand]

The way they are going they won''t be anything to put into the mall.
The brand of socialism that Chavez/Castro pushes is like the brand of capitalism that the Federal Reserve/Wall Street pushes. They both are for only the incrowd and in general ruin ordinary peoples lives.

[questionnews]

The people of Venezuela had better get used to the idea that when they voted in Chavez. it was the last presidential vote they would make until Chavez dies.
Chavez will never leave office alive.

[whitemale08]

little FAT Communist who is support FARC and other Genocidal Terrorist Groups. But of course, Democrats have visited their friend Hugo to tell him how much better he is than the American President.


Posted by demslie2u2 at 09:22 AM : Dec 23, 2008

You''re just an ignorant serf who believes whatever propaganda that emporer Bush tells you. It was Grasso who ran the NYSE stock exchange on Wall Street that ''funded'' the FARC...(below is a pic of GRASSO/FARC embrace).


http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=grasso%20farc&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

And Hugo Chavez won the biggest landslide election in the most free election process in democratic history, dwarfed Ronald Reagan''s victory.

Obama should have the guts to do what Chavez has done and REJECT the imperialism of Wall Street and the City of London who have completely looted the U.S.

We need people like you, who embrace ''globalization'' to just shut the hell up and leave us ''free thinking'' people alone.

[jt_lancer]

Funny how those who come to the defense of Chavez in this case say that these people ''don''t need'' another shopping mall. Who the heck are you to say what someone else needs?

That is why markets work. Individuals risk their own capital in the hopes that consumers will VOLUNTARILY purchase their goods or use their service.

It is also why central planning does not work. Chavez decided on a whim that a mall was ''not needed'' there? That ''maybe a hospital or a university'' would be better?

What private investor would DARE to build ANYTHING in Venezuela when the dictatorial leader can expropriate the property at will?

[notblue]

demslie2, you couldn''t be more correct, it is interesting reading how the libs seem always to be on the side of the dictators and terrorists. Is it because they believe in the message an ideology of Chavez, Ahmahdinajhad, Al Zawahri or do they just hate Bush? The latter is probably more likely but then again it''s a tough call.

[ddaryl1]

and this is where socialism fails... There actually needs to be a balance between socialists values and capitialistic values in a successful lasting society IMHO...

What we have in the USA is irresponsible capitalism, which sees its greed controlled by the mega wealthy who continue to drain the workers and bribe the politicians to feed their own desires for more power and wealth. Which in return rewards those who play along

In Socialism you have the premise of doing more for th epeople, but at the cost of sustainable infrastucutre. Chavez will kill his own country if he does not allow some capitalistic values mel into his plans. All that will be left is utilities and and hospitals but not enough jobs or people with money to afford those services...

somewhere in the middle of these 2 idealogies is where humanity needs to be... but the mega rich in capitalism wil lhave no part of that... they want to control and profit from everything and they are the reason the USA is circling the drain now

[eggy1620]

The fact of the matter is this. The potential global workforce greatly outnumbers the amount of workers needed to produce life%u2019s necessities. One of two things must happen. Either ramped up consumerism on a global scale, or a massive and catastrophic reduction in global population.

[eggy1620]

fsw3, all lot of jobs depend on people %u201Cwasting their money on all sorts of garbage they don''''t need.%u201D

[samael2014]

You know you''re reading propaganda at it''s face value when the American press spends an inordinate amount of time being critical of a leader''s domestic policy and agenda.

Are you aware of any other country''s domestic policies to this extent (they''re making a case for a single mall construction that nearly everyone they talked to agreed it shouldn''t be built)? Why Venezuela and not for instance, the United States of America -- as was intended by the U.S. Constitutional mandate for a free press, free first and foremost of propaganda?

[lancearmstng]

Notice how mtee blindly argues in favor of Chavez, who was elected by "the people" after using bully tactics and prying on the ultra-poor of his nation for their votes. The most recent election saw Chavez losing in the major cities and heavy support in military-aided locations.

Chavez was elected by democracy the way Medvedev was elected in Russia...