Chavez threatens to nationalize Venezuelan banks
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday he could nationalize private banks unless they comply with the law, adding he had “no problem with that because the banks don’t want to extend credit to the poor.”
In a broadcast from nationalized farmland in central Venezuela, he said: “To all the country’s private bankers … (I’m saying) he who slips up loses; I’ll take over the bank, whatever its size.”
“You want me to nationalize the banks?” he said during the broadcast of his weekly TV show “Alo Presidente.”
“I have no problem with that because the banks don’t want to extend credit to the poor, they don’t comply, they don’t want to comply with the bank’s purpose for existence, and that is the law.”
Chavez said the purpose of banks was not to enrich a small group of people but “should be to collect funds and savings to help aid the country’s development by making loans, extending credits for housing.”
In power for a decade, Chavez has nationalized broad swathes of the economy.
His banking nationalization threats on Sunday appeared to be broader in scope than his well-publicized warnings in recent years to nationalize Spanish-owned banks in Venezuela.
He repeatedly threatened to seize Spanish bank subsidiaries in Venezuela unless Spain’s king apologized for telling him to “shut up” in November 2007 at a regional summit where Chavez branded a recent ex-Spanish prime minister a fascist.
But the only major private bank, foreign or Venezuelan, to fall into state hands under Chavez’s rule was Spain’s Banco Santander unit Banco de Venezuela, sold to Venezuela in July for $1.05 billion.
The government’s last banking takeover was on November 20, when it seized four small banks, accounting for about 6 percent of Venezuela’s deposits.
Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez then said the move stemmed from concerns about credit portfolios, problems explaining the source of funds and failure to comply with some obligations.
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Face Forward Comments:
We run a large number of stories about Chavez and there is a reason behind it. If you look at the pattern of what he has done in Venezuela you will see a striking resemblance to what is happening in the USA.
When you say, “it could never happen here”, did you ever think the government would own GM, fine you for not having health insurance, or have a man with and Islamic name as president? Probably not.
The thing that is so much more worrisome about the Obama Administration is that he already has the majority of the lawmakers (Democrats) supporting him. The first step in preventing a complete takeover of our government by the left is a change in 2010. We must vote out people that believe in big government and big spending.
