Venezuela cancels all mining concessions

[Judi Lynn]

UPDATE 2-Venezuela cancels all mining concessions
Thursday 22 September 2005, 0:43am EST

By Matthew Robinson

CARACAS, Venezuela, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Wednesday his government was cancelling all mining concessions and would not award any new deals to transnational companies as part of a wider sector restructuring.

"Recently ... we decided, after looking at this and looking at that, to cancel all mining concessions. We will not give any more concessions to transnationals," Chavez said in a speech late on Wednesday.

Left-winger Chavez has launched a broad campaign to review energy and mineral contracts signed by Venezuela before he first won office in 1998. He says some of the deals are robbing the world's No. 5 oil exporter of its natural resources.
"(This) is to recuperate the national power, the sovereignty to manage our resources," he said.

Among major foreign companies mining in Venezuela are Canada's Crystallex (KRY.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), Bolivar Gold (BGC.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), U.S. firm Hecla Mining Co. (HL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and China's Shandong Gold-Mining Co. Ltd. (600547.SS: Quote, Profile, Research).
(snip/...)

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type...

[Missy M]

1. It is interesting when reading this article that the reporter refers to..

President Chavez as a "left-winger" with his "self proclaimed socialist revolution". A president who is trying to better the lives of the nations poor people by taking back their countries resources, is very subtly referred to as a communist. What is wrong with controlling your own countries resources. I believe that is what we do in this country.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Americans don't control their own resources, the capitalists do!

We should nationalize the energy industry to begin with. Chavez is a beacon of freedom and popular power at a time that our country and the world are under the jackboot of imperialist oppression.

[Missy M]

5. How very true, it should have read the capitalists of this country....

and I agree the energy industry must be nationalized because it is totally out of control and we haven't seen the worst of it yet. This winter alone is going to have a devastating affect on the poor and middle class if what I have been reading about the cost of natural gas comes true. I recently read that in some areas the cost of natural gas will be up 71%. There is no way the poor or middle class can possibly absorb that kind of an increase and survive financially.

[Say_What]

11. Same bellecose bullsh*t that the USSA has spewed over the years

about countries and their leaders who have the audacity of thinking that resources in their nation belong to them.

United Fruit
Kennecott
Anaconda
ITT
etc, etc.

How dare they!!

[WCGreen]

15. Hell, just look at the Panama Canal if you want to see

naked American Capitalism at work....

[ElectroPrincess]

28. I lived in Panama for 2 years and the poverty is breathtaking ...

The difference between the rich and poor is clear. There's 75% unemployment in the port city of Cólon. The rich folk really live it up - but the poor live in abject poverty.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. On the other hand, if you're a socialist yourself,

you might regard 'socialist' and 'left winger' as compliments. And you'd tell someone that it's not the same as communist.

[ElectroPrincess]

26. I find it charmingly ignorant how the Right Wing think the words

"communist" and "socialist" describe the same political bent. That's probably why both of them are coughed up when the rabid right wing find themselves "in a rant" about pinko liberal democrats.

[rman]

22. "controlling your own countries resources" IS non-capitalist

I don't care what you call it, as long as you don't allude to the falshood that socialism and communism are the same thing. It's a RW talking point that fits perfectly in the trivialisation of politics that's taking place all over the mainstream media. Guess who benefits from that.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Oh boy, the rich people are going to be really pissed now

How dare a democratically elected 'dictator' try to do what's best for his country.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

4. And Chavez used "sovereignty" correctly, unlike somebody we know.

And English isn't even his first language -- or Chavez's.

[bunyip]

6. Sigh

He's made some new and very rich enemies.

I appreciate what he is trying to do, but there are less arrogant ways to do this. Raising mining royalties every year would force out the multinationals just as readily.

Saying "yes, but it'll cost ya" makes it harder for the oligarchs to complain. Or to win support if they do.

I fear Pat Robbertson may have his prayers answered. Salvador Allende, anyone?

[Coexist]

10. I agree - the U.S. AND China -

he just left himself nowhere to turn for help.

[Demeter]

17. I Think Those Enemies Are A Little Preoccupied At Present

This is the time to make bold moves: when everybody is rushing for cover, frantically trying to keep their little schemes from flushing down the toilet, ducking grand juries, and all other forms of retribution. (To the Democratic Leadership: hint hint!) (To the few truly American GOP members: hint hint!)

[tainowarrior]

7. if he can extract it more efficiently

and distribute its revenues better, GO CHAVEZ!

But, I hope all of these recent nationalizations don't turn into Cuba part 2. Cuba hasn't done the best job in its own economic performance. If the end result is the worsening of Venezuela's economy, then it wouldn't be worth it, and Chavez could be squandering the delicate revolutionary balance that has earned him the respect of many.

Thread carefully Chavez. We support you. Don't make us think you're another Fidel.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Cuba has been struggling under a 45 year old embargo all this time.

That would put a crimp in any country's style, to put it very mildly.

[tainowarrior]

9. I agree.

I agree. I happen to think that when it comes to Cuba, 60% of the problems are embargo related, but 40% are related to overzealous ideological predictions of massive production gains. China thought they could take a Great Leap forwarded, and ended up screwing up sound economics.

I really have high hopes for Chavez' revolution and this unprecended wave of leftist presidents in Latin America. I don't want to see this renewed energy, after a decade and half of stagnation (politically), go down the drain, by being discredited by bad economics. If it's gonna be an alternative to neoliberalism, it has to be an alternative, not another failure.

I hope to God he helps these movements.

[1932]

21. In Richard Gott's book on Cuba

he suggests that Cuba's problems go back to a decision Cuba made in the 60s about the kind of economy they would have.

Che thought that Cuba should diversify its economy. He wanted Cuba to produce much of what it consumed. He also thought Cuba should be adding value to their raw materials and exporting manufactured products. The soviet union convinced Castro to export sugar and do little else. Castro, at the time, felt obligated to the Soviet Union and followed their advice. The soviet union had contracts with Cuba to buy all the sugar they could produce for prices that were relatively high.

Cuba did extremely well in some of those years. But when the soviet union collapsed, those contracts disappeared. Cuba was left with an economy almost entirely oriented around sugar production. IIRC, asian and african countries started manufacturing sugar from beet root, or something like that, in the late 80s and early 90s which forced the sugar prices down even more.

So, throughout the 90s, Cuba has been in the difficult position of havind to adapt its economy to these new realities. They're having to do what Che would have had them do 40 years ago. It doesn't help that they have to go through this transition at a time when the US is cutting them off from marketplaces. All things considered, IIR Gott C, they've done a reasonably good job over the last 10 years of building the economy up despite the US's actions. I think their economy is growing.

[tainowarrior]

27. Che wanted rapid industrialization

I'm not so sure i'd trust Che's economic advice. Che was a horrible financial planner, and under him, the Bank of Cuba did horribly.

I'm inspired by his revolutionary appeals, but he was not the best person to get the revolution moving economically.

[1932]

30. Che didn't need to run the program. It would have been enough for

Castro to heed his warning that Cuba should diversify its economy and not solely exist as an exporter of raw sugar to the USSR and Eastern Europe.

[K-W]

12. The issue isnt efficiency, its where the wealth goes.

Inefficiently using the resources to benefit the people is preferable to efficiently funnelling the wealth into the pockets of corporations.

But there is no reason to think the efficiency will change one bit.

[1932]

25. Amartya Sen's Development as Freedom points out that taking care of

the people is more efficient.

He compares China and India to support that argument. Both countries have begun the transition to market economies at the same time. China has been much more successful and it's probably because they started the transition with almost universal health care and literacy. India's literacy rate is about 50% (which is what it was at the end of the colonial era). The British left behind a two-tiered society which has ill-prepared India for economic developmentn when comparied to India.

[rman]

23. "distribute its revenues better" is the primary reason

It's what neo-liberalism does promis, but fails to deliver.

Old-school liberalism/leftism/pro-labor hower does deliver. Chavez calls it "socialism". But it does what is does regardless of what it's called.

[1932]

24. I suspect he's not nationalizing the mining industry, as they haven't done

with any industry at all -- the only industry that is nationalized according to constitution in Venezuela is PDVSA, and that has always been the case (except previous government used it to make a few wealthy people wealthier).

The economy in Venezuela is decentralized (even PDVSA, even though government owns the shares).

I suspect that new contracts are going to be made with private corporations which are either Venezuelan-based companies, or which are private-public partnerships which are not centrally controlled by the government.

[K-W]

31. Or at least not stereotypical nationalism.

One can bring the industry into the service of the nation without bringing it under direct control of a centralized power.

If I understand you correctly, essentially what Venezuala is doing is creating true corporations. Organizations that exist to serve a public good that are constrained by law and accountable to the people they serve.

[1932]

32. What they're doing is harnessing capitalism for the benefit of Venezuelans

Galbraith said about socialism and capitalism that at the end of the day -- once capitalist nations do all they need to do to provide for social welfare of their citizens, and once socialist countries have decentralized economic decision making to the industries they own and have conceded to the inevitable efficiency-promoting logic of the marketplace -- there isn't much difference between the two.

That's what Chavez is doing. They're going to own the oil company because all other economic development depends on it, but PDVSA and the few industries that are public-private partnerships have decentralized control, and it seems that the inevitable goal is to transfer the publically owned parts of the latter to the workers (which would be like if the UK sold railtrack to the workers instead of to some Tory cronies).

I have no idea what Venezuela is doing about the water co. and other utilities, but they seem pretty tuned into the fact that they should do what benefits the people the most, which is a hybrid of socialism and market economics.

[confludemocrat]

13. Take note people, this is a Nelson Mandela of the 21st century and to thin

k I first read about him in Vanity Fair. And I hope and believe he will prevail as Mandela did with all the good he is doing and trying to do.

[Roland99]

14. Just hope he doesn't turn into a Stephen Biko

[htuttle]

16. We ought to consider that -- we're getting ripped off here

Good example: In the last days of Bush Sr.s presidency, he changed the rules to allow Barrick gold (a company in which he has an interest) to purchase a gold mining concession in Nevada worth an estimated $10 BILLION dollars for the low, low price of $10,000 paid to the taxpayers.

That same year, Barrick had donated TEN TIMES that much ($100,000) to the Republican party.

Palast wrote about this:
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=207&row=4

Mining concessions rip off taxpayers.

[redqueen]

18. HAAAAHahahahahah He's just DARING us to attack him, isn't he?

VIVA CHAVEZ!

[Say_What]

20. Colombia Denies Asylum to Venezuelans Wanted in 2002 Coup Attempt

The Bushistas won't like this...

Check that remark about Colombia's 'strong tradition in human rights'

<clips>

Colombia Denies Asylum to Venezuelans Wanted in 2002 Coup Attempt


Caracas, Venezuela, September 21, 2005—Colombia denied eight Venezuelan officers and one former Venezuelan politician a request for political asylum yesterday. The nine Venezuelans are all accused of having participated in the April 2002 coup attempt against President Chavez, which removed the president from office for two days before the coup collapsed.

Among those seeking asylum in Colombia is Rear Admiral Hector Ramirez Perez, whom the brief coup regime had named as Defense Minister. Venezuela’s Supreme Court had dismissed all charges against four officers accused of being involved in the coup in August 2002. A new Supreme Court, however, overturned that decision in early 2005, which opened the possibility of a new trial against the officers. As the Attorney General’s office prepared new cases against the suspected coup plotters, many of the accused left the country, one by one, including the nine whose asylum request was turned down.

“We are looking for judicial protection, as is established under Article 51 of the UN Convention on Refugees,” said Ramirez Perez on Colombian television. “Since Colombia is one of the countries that adhere most to law, with a strong tradition in human rights, we precisely came to solicit here,” he added.

Coup president Pedro Carmona has been in Colombia ever since early 2003, when he escaped from his house arrest. Colombia granted him political asylum, which has been a source of friction in the relations between Colombia and Venezuela ever since.

Venezuela’s Attorney General’s Office today requested the detention of four of the military officers seeking asylum. All four, Generals Efraín Vásquez Velazco and Pedro Pereira Olivares, Vice Admiral Héctor Ramírez Pérez, and Rear Admiral Daniel Comisso Urdaneta, were the only ones originally charged in August 2002. The Attorney General is seeking their detention because they missed their scheduled court appearances last July.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1761

[Dover]

29. Well if Americans won't sell Unocal to the Chinese...how is this different

really? It's about control of resources. All the lip service to free markets is just like recommending the benefits of free love and orgies to your wife. Multinationals want their cake and eat it too.
They want to behave like sovereign nations without loyalties, while having all the advantages of their national allegiances.
______________________________________________________________________

109th CONGRESS

1st Session



S. 1412



To prohibit the merger, acquisition, or takeover of Unocal Corporation by CNOOC Ltd. of China.


IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES


July 15, 2005
Mr. DORGAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A BILL

To prohibit the merger, acquisition, or takeover of Unocal Corporation by CNOOC Ltd. of China.


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Oil and natural gas resources are strategic assets critical to national security and the Nation's economic prosperity.

(2) The National Security Strategy of the United States approved by President George W. Bush on September 17, 2002, concludes that the People's Republic of China remains strongly committed to national one-party rule by the Communist Party.

(3) On June 23, 2005, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation Limited (CNOOC), announced its intent to acquire Unocal Corporation, in the face of a competing bid for Unocal Corporation from Chevron Corporation.

(4) The People's Republic of China owns approximately 70 percent of CNOOC.

(5) A significant portion of the CNOOC acquisition is to be financed and heavily subsidized by banks owned by the People's Republic of China.

(6) Unocal Corporation is based in the United States, and has approximately 1,750,000,000 barrels of oil equivalent, with its core operating areas in Southeast Asia, Alaska, Canada, and the lower 48 States.

(7) A CNOOC acquisition of Unocal Corporation would result in the strategic assets of Unocal Corporation being preferentially allocated to China by the Chinese Government.

(8) A Chinese Government acquisition of Unocal Corporation would weaken the ability of the United States to influence the oil and gas supplies of the Nation through companies that must adhere to United States laws.

(9) As a de facto matter, the Chinese Government would not allow the United States Government or United States investors to acquire a controlling interest in a Chinese energy company.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF UNOCAL TO CNOOC.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the merger, acquisition, or takeover of Unocal Corporation by CNOOC is prohibited.
END

[Judi Lynn]

33. Updated story: Venezuela Will Not Cancel Mining Licenses of Compani

Venezuela Will Not Cancel Mining Licenses of Companies Abiding the Law

The Associated Press
Published: Sep 24, 2005

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Foreign companies abiding by Venezuelan law will not have their mining licenses canceled by the government, a Venezuelan lawmaker said Friday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that his government had decided to cancel all mining licenses and stop issuing new ones to foreign companies, accusing them of gaining rights to mines and leaving them idle.

Pedro Jimenez, head of the National Assembly's energy and mines commission, said Friday that only mine concessions considered inactive or in violation of the law would be affected.

"All those local or foreign investors that follow the law will be respected completely," according to a statement posted on the assembly's Web site.
(snip/...)

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBXCUSGZDE.html