Hugo Chavez to seize homes and hotels for the poor on idyllic Los Roques

[The Northerner]

Venezuela president Hugo Chavez's policy of nationalising strategic private businesses has taken a new twist with his announcement that his government will expropriate hotels and holiday homes at an upmarket Caribbean resort.

The president plans to turn Los Roques, an idyllic archipelago of deserted beaches of perfect white sand with swaying palms and dazzling coral reefs, into a state-run getaway for his country's urban poor.

Speaking on national television, he said that yachts and speedboats confiscated from fugitive bankers would be used to transport holidaymakers from the mainland. "There are some houses there that were illegally built. We are going to expropriate them."

Talking by phone link rather than appearing in person – a tactic the president has increasingly used since starting chemotherapy for cancer – he added that the archipelago, a national park, had in effect been privatised by Venezuelan and foreign members of "the upper bourgeoisie".

The measure may turn out to be one of Mr Chavez's least controversial nationalisations. Los Roques was declared a protected area in 1972 and it is unclear why local authorities permitted any private properties on the islands, effectively allowing the archipelago to become one of Latin America's most exclusive beach destinations. Lying 95 miles off Venezuela's northern coast, Los Roques is a paradise for bird watchers, snorkellers and scuba-divers.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chavez-to-seize-homes-and-hotels-for-the-poor-on-idyllic-los-roques-2367385.html

[sasha031]

1. love it, can you imagine if that happened here

:)

[readmoreoften]

2. I'm not down with Chavez's whole game but this I support 100%.

Support of Ahmedinajad and Gaddafi, no. Taking resorts from the rich for the benefit of the people, hell yes.

[tblue]

3. Don't buy the propaganda spread here about him.

Greg Palast has written a lot about Chavez that runs counter to our MSM's meme. Not saying you don't know what you're talking about, but Chavez is widely misunderstood in these parts.

[EFerrari]

4. Chavez will always side with whatever country the US has in its sights.

Every time.

[Mudoria]

5. I'd burn it before I turned it over