MEXICO CITY — Venezuelan officials early Tuesday seized control of the Venezuelan operations of Mexican building giant Cemex after negotiators failed to come to terms on a deal to nationalize the company’s assets.
Backed by national guard troops and cheering crowds, government representatives moved in on three Cemex plants at the stroke of midnight Monday, the end of a 60-day deadline set by President Hugo Chavez for imposing state control over Venezuela’s largest cement maker.
Chavez has long criticized Venezuela’s private-sector cement makers for high prices and tight supplies that he says have hampered government efforts to build housing for the poor. Pro-nationalization supporters who had gathered outside a Cemex facility in eastern Venezuela sang the national anthem while fireworks exploded overhead, according to news reports.
“Our great plans for national development will now be able to be realized in the best way and with the efficiency that our people need,” Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told the state news agency Tuesday. “The interest of Venezuelans will prevail … over the commercial interest or the international strategy of any private group.”
Cemex officials on Tuesday declined to comment apart from a news release acknowledging the government takeover of its Venezuelan facilities. But Mexico’s ambassador to Venezuela, Mario Chacon, made his displeasure clear. Chavez’s hard line with Cemex, one of Mexico’s most admired companies, has irritated the conservative administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
“As a government, we respect Venezuela’s decision, but we are obligated to look out for the interests of our companies,” Chacon said. “We believe there has been discriminatory treatment against Cemex, and we don’t understand why.”
Chavez announced in April that the government would nationalize the country’s cement industry. It’s part of his strategy to impose state control over key sectors of the economy and channel its oil wealth into social programs.
