Seaport Socialism

At a time when many U.S. law makers are considering a renewal of trade ties with Cuba, an alarming new development is unfolding in another part of the hemisphere led by a tin horn dictator.

The latest move by Venezuela’s socialist President Hugo Chavez to put key areas of the economy in state hands now includes all of the nation’s seaports.

Ostensibly designed to enhance “national security,” the policy is really a way of putting these valuable cargo gateways under government control and expanding federal power.

Chavez has ordered naval vessels to seize control of Port Cabello in Carabobo state and Maracaibo Port in Zulia state – two of the regions where the president has seen his power erode. Meanwhile, he has threatened the two governors of these states with prison if any resistance is made.
Sound familiar? Fidel Castro did this years ago, and Cuba has been one of the most impoverished nations in the entire region ever since.