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CARACAS — President Hugo Chavez has ordered the "acquisition by force" of a landmark Hilton Hotel on Venezuela's Margarita island, the government's Official
Gazette announced Tuesday.
The facility, on the Caribbean resort island of Margarita in Nueva Esparta state, was targeted for state takeover less than a month after it was used to host the Africa-South America Summit.
"The acquisition by force of the real estate, furnishings, and related assets (...) of the Margarita Hilton & Suites Hotel Complex, along with the Marina owned by Inversiones Pueblamar y Desarrollos MBK, have been ordered," a presidential decree in the official register read.
The sprawling complex includes 280 rooms, 210 suites, a casino, stores, restaurants, offices and meeting areas, as well as the adjoining marina.
The assets will be held by the state tourism corporation Venetur, which reports to the Tourism Ministry, as part of an "urgent" effort to boost "the social development side of the tourism and hotel industries in Nueva Esparta state," the Gazette said.
It is not the first time Chavez's government has checked into a Hilton and stayed for good.
Caracas has already seized the Hotel Hilton in Caracas, rechristening it the Hotel Alba, a reference to the Venezuelan-led leftist regional alliance Alianza Bolivariana para las Americas (ALBA).
In the past four years, Venezuela has implemented the nationalization of industries it sees as strategic including electrical utilities, cement, steel, oil services and banking.
I shall quench my thirst with the blood of my enemies!
Venezuelan govn't orders compulsory acquisition of Margarita Hilton hotel
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The Venezuelan government ordered, under a presidential decree, to transfer the ownership of the Margarita Hilton hotel, located in Nueva Esparta, to the state. The move includes all the assets, additions and improvements of the hotel.
The expropriation of the hotel will be carried out without any tax or equity limitation.
The decision was motivated by the urgent need to consolidate tourism and hotel development in the state of Nueva Esparta, which is a responsibility of the state to diversify Venezuelan economy.
The move affects the investors who were to date the shareholders of Inversiones Pueblamar y Desarrollos MBK.
:trotsky:
I shall quench my thirst with the blood of my enemies!
Re: Venezuelan govn't orders compulsory acquisition of Margarita Hilton hotel
They seized Margarita Hilton?
Why not Paris? I"m series!!1!1!!
If you could reason with religious people there'd be no religious people. -House
A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress’s generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner. -Mike Lofgren, 28 years as a staffer on the Republican House and Senate budget and other committees, often dealing with national security and defense issues
Re: Venezuelan govn't orders compulsory acquisition of Margarita Hilton hotel
OK...
I know ... this is more serious than that... sorry.
If you could reason with religious people there'd be no religious people. -House
A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress’s generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner. -Mike Lofgren, 28 years as a staffer on the Republican House and Senate budget and other committees, often dealing with national security and defense issues
From DUer Igel: In this case they're building nothing.
This is in response to the same article at DU as the OP. Could someone please get in contact with Igel to mention that we like his commentary and are more than welcome to signup.
The claim is it's run down and the government will invest money. ("El hotel Hilton en la isla Margarita, al norte de Venezuela, presentaba un "deterioro muy avanzado" en sus instalaciones y servicio, por lo que el gobierno decidió expropiarlo para "socializarlo", mejorar sus servicios y convertirlo en un centro de capacitación turística.")
At the same time, they complain that it's "elite" tourism and they should have "the people's tourism" (I lack a good translation for "turismo popular"). ("Vamos a instalar pronto aquí en Margarita la secretaría permanente" de la cumbre, dijo entonces Chávez. "En este hotel hay mucho espacio, te imaginas trabajar aquí", comentó.)
On the other hand, it'll be the permanent seat of the secretariat for the group that--apparently to Hugo's great embarrassment--met there a month or so ago. ("Confirmó, además, que en sus instalaciones estará la sede de la secretaría permanente de la Cumbre América del Sur-África (ASA), cuya creación se decidió en el segundo encuentro de países suramericanos y africanos que se celebró a finales del pasado septiembre precisamente en el Margarita Hilton." ""Vamos a instalar pronto aquí en Margarita la secretaría permanente" de la cumbre, dijo entonces Chávez. "En este hotel hay mucho espacio, te imaginas trabajar aquí", comentó.")
They also claim it's been run under a "contrato leonino", in other words somebody was making money and it wasn't Venezuela's government. (""Ayer se le venció a la cadena Hilton el contrato leonino que tuvo sobre ese hotel por más de 20 años", dijo Morejón al canal estatal Venezolana de Televisión, sin dar más detalles de ese contrato." Notice the neat military-style metaphor characteristic of, well, certain progressives..)
They'll pay for it. Well, they say they'll eventually decide how much they pay. Of course, there's no conflict of interest when the government decides it needs something and decides how much the government will pay for it.
Of course, it accomplishes something that the internationalist Hugo has long desired: Yet another yanqui business off his property. Although I can't quite shake the impression that what happened was along these lines:
Qadhafi: "Hey, Huguito, that's a pretty nifty vehicle you have to making sure that we're the leaders of those Africans. And that's a pretty sweet complex you have there. How about you put us there--it's a burden, having the run of a marina, set of stores, large hotel, restaurant, and everything else, right on the Caribbean. But hey, being in charge of everything is hard work and, well, we're special. We deserve it."
Huguito: "You know, you're right. Why are we letting the monied elite there when we political elite could have it for ourselves? Who's more important--them or us? Bah, silly question. Me, of course. I'm sorry, good friend, "us." But what's the pretext?"
Qadhafi: "You know, I actually had to request the porn channel. And when I set up my stuff I ruined the carpet and some of the wallpaper. It wasn't fixed before I left."
Hugito: "Aha! It's run down, and an embarrassment to my great fatherland. Consider it done, my dear friend. The secretariat will be there, thus endearing us to the Africans and making sure that we can control that organization. Will you be there at least annually?"
Qadhafi: "But of course, either me or my son, Sword of Islam. Not that his name is in the least religious."
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"Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household."
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If you could reason with religious people there'd be no religious people. -House
Originally Posted by Christine
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