VENEZUELA: Government seizes Heinz plant

Stuart Munckton

The Venezuelan government seized a Heinz Baked Beans processing plant that was left idle by the company, just days after a similar seizure of an idle maize processing plant owned by Alimentos Polar, the largest food company in Venezuela, according to a September 7 report by the Dow Jones newswire.

Vheadline.com reported on September 7 that Heinz admitted that the plant, which used to employ 50 workers, had been left idle for eight years and was on the market to be sold. The Venezuelan government intends to reopen the plant and get it working again.

Heinz claimed that "low market demand and low prices didn't make it feasible to keep it running". Although the company complained that it received no advance notice of the takeover, the BBC reported on July 18 that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced three days earlier on his weekly television program Hello President that his government would expropriate any plant in Venezuela left idle by its owners and reopen the plant under workers' management.

Heinz has claimed the takeover of its plant lacks legal backing, while Polar has begun a legal campaign against the expropriation of its plant. Vheadline reported that Venezuela's main business federation, Fedecarmos, criticised the takeovers and called on the government to "respect private property and economic freedoms".

From Green Left Weekly, September 14, 2005.

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From GLW issue 642