Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the nation's largest steel maker, Sidor, would not be allowed to make any more exports until it meets domestic needs, and threatened to expropriate the Argentine-controlled company if it resists.
Chavez has criticized Sidor for selling the bulk of its production overseas and forcing local producers to import from elsewhere, saying Venezuelan industry should be given priority.
Sidor's parent company, Ternium SA, is controlled by conglomerate Techint Group of Argentina. Chavez said he has summoned Ternium chairman Paolo Rocca from Buenos Aires for talks.
"We're going to pass a law, Rocca. We're going to force you to supply, first and foremost, the Venezuelan domestic market before you take [the steel] to other countries," Chavez said at a news conference on Saturday.
"If you don't agree, give it to me. I'll grab your company. Give it to me, and I'll pay you what it's worth. I won't rob you," he said.
Phone calls to Sidor for comment went unanswered on Saturday afternoon.
Chavez, who was recently granted special powers to decree laws, also said he was ready to require that all businesses in Venezuela similarly supply domestic demand before exporting.
"I think we should work on a different model with Latin American business owners," Chavez said, calling for them to "operate differently ... at least here in Venezuela."
Earlier this week, Chavez warned he could nationalize Sidor and private banks if they failed to change what he called unscrupulous business practices that harm local industries.
Chavez's comments on Saturday appeared to reinforce that he does not plan an imminent takeover but rather intends to strong-arm the private sector into coming in line with his socialist revolution.
Since initiating a nationalization drive in January, Chavez has already moved to take state control of telecommunications, electricity companies and the oil sector.
Earlier on Saturday -- which Chavez noted coincided with Karl Marx's birthday -- the Venezuelan leader drove a red Volkswagen bug to a poor Caracas slum where he officially registered with a movement to create a single, pro-Chavez ruling party: the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
A close ally of Cuban President Fidel Castro, Chavez argues Venezuela needs a single socialist party to rein in political interests and more efficiently lead his movement. Many analysts call it an effort to consolidate party control.
"If any rich person wants to become a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, he will be welcome but he must begin by setting aside his wealth to the fight against misery," Chavez said as he repeatedly invoked the communist ideals of Marx and Leon Trotsky.
Chavez also blasted Venezuela's Communist Party and other allies who have resisted joining the single party, calling them dogmatic opponents of his revolution and accusing party leaders of preventing their members from defecting.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS