Nice guy -- Hugo Chavez calls the US names and then says that it will not pay Verizon the full market price for it's investment in Venezuela's telephone system when it gets "nationalized".
From Forbes:
Chavez Roars, Verizon Snores
It was far from unprecedented. On Sunday, fiery Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told U.S. officials to "go to hell." Literally.
Figuratively speaking, he said the same thing to Verizon Communications when he announced Sunday that his government will not pay market price when it nationalizes CA Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela, of which Verizon owns 28.5%.
"I'll pay when the law dictates and in the form the government decides," Chavez said.
"I'm going to tell them that CANTV was given away, and that they shouldn't come here saying it must be paid for at the international price."
Meanwhile in the United States of America:
Yet in a recent note, Richard Klugman, an analyst for Prudential Equity Group, said "the impact on Verizon should be minimal." Indeed, the New York -based telecommunications company posted profits of more than $7 billion in 2005.
And let's take a look at how the rest of the Venezuelan economy is doing with all the nationalization going on:
Venezuelan Stocks Fall On Chavez's Nationalization Efforts
Newly re-elected Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's plans to nationalize major industries such as power and telecommunications hit the market as expected on Tuesday, as shares of AES and C.A. Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela (CANTV) fell precipitately in afternoon trading.
Since his election in 1998, Chavez has striven to transform his home country into a socialist republic. Over the past eight years, the fiery Venezuelan leader has changed the nation's laws, established cooperatives with state funds and begun a substantial land reform program in an effort to help poor farmers.
In the process, however, his critics have accused him of autocratically consolidating power and pushing his nation headfirst towards a state-controlled economy.
The latter is something the president and his supporters proudly admit.
"We're heading towards socialism, and nothing and no one can prevent it," said Chavez in announcing his plans for nationalization on Monday. "The nation should recover its ownership of strategic sectors."
Some numbers excerpted from the article:
That didn't sit well with investors as shares of CANTV plunged $4.34, or roughly 26%, to $12.50 in afternoon trading.
Electricidad de Caracas... ... In afternoon trading, shares of AES fell 88 cents, or 4.2%, to $20.14.
A true workers paradise indeed...
