We're splitting Quick Hits in two today because Hugo made too much news yesterday:
- Hugo's 21st Century Socialism looks a lot like 20th century communism to me. Hugo swore in his 27 cabinet ministers yesterday and then Hugo announced plans to nationalize the country's electrical and telecommunications industries, end the independence of the central bank and expand his powers. WaPost reports that AES Corp. of Virginia, which holds and 86% stake in the largest private utility in the country is going to take a massive hit. In 2005 the firm made $613 million from Venezuela and lists the value of its assets in the country at $1.85 billion. WaPost also notes the importance of the ousting of Rangel, who had his own power base independent of Hugo. As I mentioned previously this move is reminiscent of Fidel purging the Cuban gov't as he concentrated his power. The ousting of Huber Matos, disappearance of Camilo and the exporting of Che were just the most obvious examples of his quest for undiluted power.
- HoustonChron highlights Hugo's threat to become more involved in the heavy oil Orinoco projects. The Chron notes that "Since the late 1990s, Houston-based ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Chevron Texaco and other firms have invested more than $17 billion into four major ventures in the vital Orinoco basin of eastern Venezuela." The Chron notices the Fidel parallel.
- LAT reports that 1/5 of Venezuela's oil production comes from Orinoco.
- All this talk of Orinoco has me thinking of Enya.
- The Herald points out that Hugo referred to himself as Trotskyist in a sense and that he closed his speech by using Fidel's tired closing, "Patria o muerte!," (The Fatherland or death!). Not mentioned is that he mixed it with a line from Che which everyone in LA would recognize.
- NYT predicatably downplays Hugo's moves in the headline but the story is comprehensive and good. Hugo's second most memorable quote of the day, "All that was privatized, let it be nationalized." is mentioned as is a very polite translation of the most popular quote of the day, which I will get into later.
- FT does a good job covering the business angle of the moves. They also analyze how the moves will affect petrol companies and the telecoms, specifically Verizon . FT also explains why this was a surprise (the incoming Fin. Minister didn't give a hint) and again another explanation of the booting of Rangel.
- As for the most memorable quote Hugo referred to OAS head Insulza as a "pendejo" and asked him to resign. (en esp.) No for the non-Spanish speaking audience out there it is impossible for any translation to English to do this word justice. The beauty of Spanish is the crudity implicit in most of its insults. Trust me that ripping someone in Spanish is a great deal more satisfying than in English. As for Hugo's choice of words, NYT noted that it can be translated to "idiot" but it is more honest to say that it means "stupid mother f****** idiot." or just use the crude word associated with the part of the female anatomy located below the waist.
