The Executive branch of government is preparing a new wave of nationalizations in the food sector, which were announced by President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday in a mandatory nationwide radio and TV broadcast. Chavez said that the government is preparing a study to expropriate Fama de América's and Café Madrid's coffee processing plants, which have been temporarily occupied by the authorities. "We were delayed. We have intervened these two big companies. We are preparing a study to expropriate them. They will become property of the people, property of the nation. Enough is enough," he said.
Chavez argued that those companies "have a monopoly, and monopolies are prohibited by the Constitution."
Chavez said that the coffee roasters buy cheap coffee to producers and afterwards they take it to Colombia and sell it four times more expensive, and subsequently they bring it to Venezuela as Colombian coffee. "I took the decision to intervene these two big coffee companies. And the decision was fulfilled," he said.
However, the coffee processing plants are not the only industries that the government wants to expropriate. Venezuelan authorities are expected to nationalize all food industries. "We have to do this (expropriate them) with all companies that have the same behavior," Chavez insisted.