Before the hugophobos go bonkers

[rabs]

as they probably will when the news in English hits LBN or GD.


File photo ABN

Chavez today announced a plan for nationalization of a private university in Barinas state via his Twitter page. Chavez told the students the university will be tuition-free after nationalization.

Reasons cited in the accompanying article are that the administration of the university is not meeting the ethical and legal requirements to run a private university.

The message was posted near midnight Caracas time tonight (Tuesday).

-----------------------------
"(I) inform, attention Barinas: students of Santa Inés university, I have just approved the plan for nationalization, for the good of all. Now; FREE."

“Informo, atención Barinas: estudiantes de la Universidad Santa Inés, acabo de aprobar el plan de nacionalización, para el bien deTodos. Ahora: GRATIS”, es el mensaje que dejó en la red social el Mandatario Nacional, este martes casi a la medianoche.

More in Spanish from ABN

http://www.abn.info.ve/noticia.php?articulo=233669&lee=6


Here is his Twitter page .... his message is on the frontpage still about five or six down.
Some interesting tidbits straight from Hugo.

http://twitter.com/chavezcandanga

Another message:
Today I spoke with Lula about Haiti and the summits in Tehran and Madrid next week.

Sigo informando: hoy hablé con Lula sobre Haití y las cumbres de Teherán y Madrid de la semana próxima!!

Chavez is now approaching 300,000 followers in just a few days. In the United States, there are a bit over 4,000 followers.

[EFerrari]

1. Well, now there is one person that is interesting enough

to follow on Twitter.

Do you think he'll trade me university courses for English teaching? He did say last year that he had jobs for the out of work teachers in California!

LOL

[protocol rv]

2. Venezuela Power Cuts to Increase in Falcon State

It seems another power plant system failed, and they will be increasing the length of power cuts in Falcon state. This will also imppact the cement plant, which will have its power cut 5 hours per day.

http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/p_contenido.php?q=nodo/136866/Regiones/Incrementan-racionamiento-en-Falcón-por-falla-en-Planta-Centro

[Wilms]

5. Going bonkers. Aren't you? n/t

[protocol rv]

11. Nah

Where I live they don't cut the power too much. I do believe there are links - as the economy deteriorates, the power gets cut, and inflation rages, government popularity is plummeting. They are responding with aggressive meassures to try to incite people to riot, etc. Such acts would then trigger their ability to declare what is termed "a state of exception" and suspend elections. Evidently the hyper aggressive moves we see on the part of chavism is a move to incite the population. The key, of course, is to stay as cool as a cucumber. Myself, I'm not even trying to make profits so they don't accuse me of being a profiteer. I am as economically inactive as possible, like a catfish sitting on the bottom of the pond in the summer time. We'll wait for the elections in September. :-)

[protocol rv]

3. Venezuela: Foreign Denominated Bonds Exchange Changes

They are changing the law to regulate the bond market, blaming "speculation" on the recent drop of the Bolivar rate. Some claim this will lead to a panic and the emergence of a fourth black market. They will penalize individuals up to 6 years in jail for exchanging bolivars for dollars in the market if the rate is different from the "official black market rate". Sounds like Cuba, doesn't it?

[protocol rv]

4. it doesn't really matter much

The quality of education in the universities is dropping. As the government tightens control over education, the smart students are leaving. This is a classic case of brain drain. Professors are also leaving. As a matter of fact, soon anybody with a reasonable IQ will be trying to leave, except for a few crooks who think they can profit from the corruption so prevalent in Venezuela today.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Apparently they haven't agreed on the official spin yet, for perception molding of US readers!

Here's the "news" from El Universal, opposition newspaper, via "google translation"
CARACAS, Wednesday May 12, 2010

Expropriation of University Students reject Santa Ines
Cessation of the activities arranged by the Gazette number 39 420

Barinas .- After finding that there is inconsistency in the thinking and actions of the Minister for University EDUCATION, Edgardo Ramirez, students of the University of Santa Ines did not abide by the Decree 297, published in Official Gazette 39 420 number.

The Gazette provides a resolution that prohibits the operation of the Civil Association of the University of Santa Ines, Barinas state did not meet the legal and ethical requirements to establish and sustain a private university.

Daniel Gonzalez, a student leader of USI, said that until this becomes an official of the Ministry or the same Ramírez, "we will continue our regular classes." He added that if they want to paralyze the academic activities will have to put military on the doors of the classroom, "because we had classes today (Tuesday) and tomorrow."

The student said Edgardo Ramírez Minister promised that if appropriate the expropriation of the USI would not cancel classes, "for what he said then now can not come by issuing a decree banning all activity in this private institution."

"The Venezuelan government has a duty to ensure free education," he said in announcing that today, at 9:30 am, will offer a press conference at the headquarters of the University of Santa Ines.

http://www.eluniversal.com/2010/05/12/pol_art_alumnos-rechazan-exp_1896526.shtml
Opposition newspaper

I hope I didn't err in STICKING to the subject of the thread too much, rabs!

[Judi Lynn]

7. Recommending. Thanks for the interesting news. Too bad we don't have something as democratic here.

I remember thinking our country would eventually be going that direction when I learned decades ago there's a free university in NYC.

Looking forward to the day education will be available even to the poor through college years.

[Billy Burnett]

8. Just like Kastro's Kuban ejukashun program.

And we know how badly that turned out. ;)


:hi:

[Judi Lynn]

10. What a nightmare. Every young person should have the right to turn out like Elian's American cousins

the Cid brothers who became felons in Miami, arrested and imprisoned for violent robberies. Cool, huh? That's what their superior Florida Cuban private school education did for THEM!

No wonder they're so proud!

Yeah, that free education is a BIG mistake, isn't it, when kids could go to private schools, like the Lincoln Marti Academy, instead?

[Bacchus39]

13. yeah, and public schools are so much better here in the US n/t

s

[protocol rv]

15. Yep, lots of educated Cubans wearing flip flops and trying to run away

That's what the Cuban education problem brought - skinny, raggedy Cubans trying to run away from Cuba so they can make a decent living elsewhere.

[Billy Burnett]

16. Where are these "skinny, raggedy" Cubans?

After reading the bulk of your posts regarding Cubans, I really think that you are bigoted against them. You have attributed virtually nothing but put-downs to them. Curious.

If you're not, then please post some REAL pictures of these "skinny, raggedy" Cubans running away. (Not the fake pictures at therealcubadotcom.)

I've been to Cuba quite a number of times and I've not seen these "skinny raggedy" Cubans that the RW falsehoods claim there is.

Please provide some evidence to this latest put-down of yours.

Cheers

[protocol rv]

17. Watch CNN

Every time they have CNN show a video of Cuba, you see skinny rageddy people wearing very lousy looking clothes, many of them wearing flip flops. I also happen to know Cubans who come from Cuba to Venezuela, and they tell me how it is. I feel sorry for them, they seem to be somewhat educated, but are treated as if they were serfs in a medieval system. Eventually, they'll kick the communists out. Then we'll probabbly see trials to punish the guilty, and there will be justice commmissions, and so on. I suspect quite a fee communists will land in jail.

[Billy Burnett]

18. "Watch CNN" is your evidence to back up another of your anti Cuba falsehoods?

You made the claim, and there's nothing in your post that can be considered as anything else but uninformed conjecture.

Again you malign, but "watch CNN" is your backup? :rofl:

[Mika]

19. There aren't any.

Its BS again. The anti Cuba crowd sling shit in hopes that something, anything, might stick.

I've traveled on missions to several Caribbean, Central and South American countries, and I have never seen malnutrition in Cuba as I have seen in all of the other nations where I have done service.

The poster is just making accusations up.

:hi:

---

[naaman fletcher]

9. the free university in NYC is private.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_Union

[Judi Lynn]

14. That must be so exciting. The City University of New York, however, was FREE at one time.

From Wiki:

CUNY's history dates back to the formation of the Free Academy in 1847 by Townsend Harris. The school was fashioned as "a Free Academy for the purpose of extending the benefits of education gratuitously to persons who have been pupils in the common schools of the …city and county of New York." The Free Academy later became the City College of New York, the oldest institution among the CUNY colleges. From this grew a system of seven senior colleges, four hybrid schools, six community colleges, as well as graduate schools and professional programs. CUNY was established in 1961 as the umbrella institution encompassing the municipal colleges and a new graduate school.

CUNY has historically served a diverse student body, especially those excluded from or unable to afford private universities. CUNY offered a high quality, tuition-free education to the poor, the working class and the immigrants of New York City until 1975, when the City's fiscal crisis forced the imposition of tuition. Many Jewish academics and intellectuals studied and taught at CUNY in the post-World War I era when Ivy League universities, such as Yale University, discriminated against Jews.<3> The City College of New York has had a reputation of being "the Harvard of the proletariat."<4>

Over its history, CUNY and its colleges, especially CCNY, have been involved in various political movements. It was known as a hotbed of socialistic support in the earlier 20th century.<5> CUNY also lent some support to various conferences, such as the Socialist Scholars Conference.<6>

CUNY's tradition of diversity continues today, with much of its student body new immigrants to New York City, representing 172 countries.<7>

Open admissions and remedial education
Demand in the United States for higher education rapidly grew each decade after World War II into the 1970s. The increased demand for limited college slots had the effect in New York City of increasing the competitiveness of the city's system of higher education. By the end of the 1960s, admission to CUNY's flagship City College had become highly competitive.

In 1969, a group of black and Puerto Rican students occupied City College demanding the integration of CUNY, which at the time had an overwhelmingly white student body. The occupation spread to other CUNY campuses, forcing the Board of Trustees to implement a ground-breaking new admissions policy. The doors to CUNY were opened wide to all those demanding entrance, assuring all high school graduates, despite possible inadequacies of preparation, entrance to the University. This policy was known as "open admissions." Remedial education, to supplement the training of under-prepared students, became a significant part of CUNY's offerings.

The effect was instantaneous and dramatic. Whereas 20,000 freshmen had matriculated in one CUNY institution or another in 1969, more than 35,000 showed up for registration in the fall of 1970. Forty percent of these newcomers to the senior colleges were open-admissions students. The proportion of black and Hispanic students in the entering class nearly tripled.

Facing a fiscal crisis in 1975, the City imposed tuition on CUNY in that year. Middle-class students who had flocked to CUNY because it offered a cost-free alternative to the state university or a private college no longer had a reason to prefer it. Their enrollment at CUNY dropped precipitously and CUNY faced declines in enrollment through the 1980s and into the 1990s.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York

[protocol rv]

12. It has nothing to do with "democracy"

it's just another takeover of private property. Why do you think this has anything to do with democracy? The way these seizures are being carried out, they are illegal, and violate the constitution. But I suppose that's not important, is it?

[Peace Patriot]

20. Protocol rv, you are constantly tripping over your lack of research and thus are unable

to provide any credible evidence--or any evidence at all--to back up your rightwing, anti-left, pro-big multinational corporate views.

--

"The way these seizures are being carried out, they are illegal, and violate the constitution."--Protocol rv

--

WHAT "seizures"? Which NATIONALIZATIONS are you talking about, that have not been legally and constitutionally conducted, with compensation where appropriate? You group a set of actions all together as "seizures" but the nationalizations that I've read about were all compensated, or involved circumstances in which even to call them "nationalizations" would be dubious--such as a recent hotel taken over by the Chavez government, where the government already owned and had invested in part of the enterprise and had a CONTRACT with the private parties that enabled the government to buy out the private investors. Another example: The oil was nationalized long before the Chavez government; what the Chavez government did was to demand and get a better deal for Venezuela. The government took over a grocery chain that was violating the law against price gouging. Our government routinely seizes homes, vehicles, bank accounts, businesses and other property of people who are merely ACCUSED of drug trafficking. How is this different--except that the Chavez government compensates private parties when they assert government control? I've seen articles about nationalization of building materials businesses--because the businesses were either hoarding materials, price gouging or selling them elsewhere, thus impeding Venezuelan development such as construction of housing for the poor. I have never seen even a corpo-fascist 'news' report that claimed that any of this was illegal or without compensation.

Please cite a credible source that makes such a claim.

There are many, many examples of sovereign democratic governments taking over and running critical national enterprises for various reasons. Norway, for instance, nationalized their oil in order to use the profits for social programs and to prevent "the boom town" ravages that we have seen destroy communities here and in other places. France heavily subsidizes their farmers in order to have fresh, organic produce available to all. Most European countries have some form of socialized medicine, available to all--often free or very low cost. They don't exactly ban medical profiteers but they severely curtail their activities by offering a free or low cost alternative. They have "nationalized" their health care. In this country, the "New Deal" administration nationalized pension insurance--the Social Security program--a program that private pension looters and Bushites would dearly love to destroy. And the U.S. just basically nationalized the banks (though they didn't call it that)--and "socialized" their losses--in order to prevent a financial collapse (or as a pre-planned looting, which I strongly suspect).

There are many gradations of "nationalization" and of "socialism." You lump together a number of Chavez government actions ("these seizures") without any detail, but the details, the history of different situations and the government's goals and procedures are VERY IMPORTANT. Also important: That Chavez was ELECTED--in elections that are far, far more transparent than our own--by big majorities, to do just this, move the country toward socialism. He has never been shy about saying so. Venezuelans knew what they were voting for. They want business to serve the needs of the country and the people--as it should--and when it doesn't--when it hoards, when it price gouges, when it tries to crash the economy (as the oil bosses tried to, in 2003), when it breaks the law, they want ACTION. So do our people, but we don't get it. We have seen our country looted and polluted by big business; we have seen our military hijacked for a corporate resource war--while the government aids and abets, instead of acting in our interest.

I applaud Chavez for going after scofflaws and fulfilling his mandate to act in the interest of the people, not that of big business and multinational corporations. And far from scaring investors away, the Chavez government has attracted new investors and has greatly diversified the sources of investment, so that Venezuela is no longer under the dictates of U.S. multinationals like Exxon Mobil and Chevron. They just signed a total of ten companies, from as many countries, to develop the Orinoco Belt (the biggest oil reserve on earth), on Venezuela's terms. Half the profits go to Venezuela's social programs, and the government maintains 60/40 control of the projects. How is that bad for Venezuela?

But then, I need to remember that you recently defended Chevron, on the massive oil spill in Ecuador, so maybe you think corporations should rule over sovereign countries rather than the other way around--the sovereignty of the people being asserted against big business and multinationals.

[protocol rv]

21. None of the nationalizations have been compensated

The government owes about $22 billion in unpaid claims. And they are still stuck in ICSID debating the mega compensation claims by ExxonMobil and Conoco Phillips. I suppose that, since you live in the US, you don't get to read the press or talk to people. but I suggest you go to La Francia near the Presidential palace, and ask the owners of the stores who got kicked out of their businesses whether they have been compensated. Or go to Valencia and ask the 1300 workers who lost their jobs when the industrial area was nationalized whether they think that nationalization was fair, or has been compensated. or go talk to Cemex or the other companies and see if they got paid, and what they really think :-)

[protocol rv]

22. I repeat, the nationalizations haven't been compensated

So what we have is arbitrary, illegal seizures. Like I said, it really doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm nearly gone now. All I got to do is sell my car and some things I got left, and it's sayonara, baby. The country is too far gone to bother.

[delad]

23. for such assertions

i would think links would be appropriate to back them up. Otherwise it is just you saying so

[Billy Burnett]

24. I hope you're not holding your breath waiting for proof from this poster.

The poster has a rep for posting falsehoods and faking story snippets in hope that some suckers will not check the facts.

Maybe you'll be told to "watch CNN" as a source to get backup of poster's accusations/fabrications.

[protocol rv]

25. It's published information, here's some samples

"Four years ago, the administration of President Hugo Chavez kicked off a plan to increase the State clout in the economy through seizures and nationalizations in a wide range of areas, such as oil, telecommunications, electric power supply, cement makers, the iron and steel industry, coffee factories, banks and farms.

Thus far, the government has repaid only a tiny portion of the procurement. This is the case of Banco de Venezuela to Grupo Santander and La Electricidad de Caracas to AES Corporation.

A case study prepared by think-tank Ecoanalitica took into account the State procurement ending 2009, except for additional amounts for purchase of small assets and expropriated farms. It found that the amount payable for the companies, most of which were in multinational hands, totals $22 billion. This sum amounting to 84% of Venezuela's international reserves includes the purchase in 2010 of the French-Colombian retail chain Hipermercados Éxito and Industrial Estate I of Barquisimeto, the capital city of Lara state."

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=91593

The following article from Investment Treaty News provides a good overview:

American gas services firm Exterran files for arbitration against Venezuela over nationalized assets

According to an Exterran press release, in February 2009 the Venezuelan National Guard occupied SIMCO facilities and handed them over to Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). In May of 2009 PIGAP II and El Furrial were also taken over after each had sent a notice of default to their sole customer PDVSA the previous month due to its lack of payments for their services.

In June 2009 Petrosucre, a subsidiary of PDVSA, took over Exterran’s gas compressors and electrical generators in Venezuela, terminating most of the company’s investment in the country.

These takeovers are part of a new wave of Venezuelan nationalizations that target companies that provide services for oil and gas extraction in order to cut costs for PDVSA. PDVSA claims that Exterran was charging excessive fees that were causing losses for Venezuela, according to AP reports.

Last month ITN reported that New Orleans-based Tidewater Inc launched another arbitration against Venezuela for the expropriation of its operations including vessels that provided transportation services for petroleum companies including PDVSA.

http://www.investmenttreatynews.org/cms/news/archive/2010/05/11/american-gas-services-firm-exterran-files-for-arbitration-against-venezuela-over-nationalized-assets.aspx

El Universal reports the cost of nationalizations is up to $22 Billion

Four years ago, the administration of President Hugo Chávez kicked off a plan to increase the State clout in the economy through seizures and nationalizations in a wide range of areas, such as oil, telecommunications, electric power supply, cement makers, the iron and steel industry, coffee factories, banks and farms.

Thus far, the government has repaid only a tiny portion of the procurement. This is the case of Banco de Venezuela to Grupo Santander and La Electricidad de Caracas to AES Corporation.

A case study prepared by think-tank Ecoanalítica took into account the State procurement ending 2009, except for additional amounts for purchase of small assets and expropriated farms. It found that the amount payable for the companies, most of which were in multinational hands, totals USD 22 billion.


http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/05/07/en_ing_esp_cost-of-seizures-up_07A3867709.shtml

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

My comment:

Many of the claims against Venezuela for failure to pay for nationalized assets are in ICSID or other arbitratioon venues. These cases take time, and they are confidential. However, the parties nationalized by the Venezuelan government have very strong cases. Once the awards begin to roll in, there will be a move to seize PDVSA assets all over the world. Which makes the policy they have to own refineries and other assets abroad a very dumb move. I'm sure ExxonMobil will own CITGO in a few years, and the others will divide the spoils like a pack of wolves.