Chavez continues to move towards permanent dictatorship.
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Chavez says Venezuela constitution vote by end February
Wed 3 Dec 2008, 1:18 GMT
CARACAS, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday he expects the OPEC nation will vote in late February on a constitutional amendment letting him stay in office as long as he keeps winning elections.
"In February, at the end of February, I think we should be ready for the referendum ... on the constitutional amendment," Chavez said during a televised speech.
Chavez, a socialist, lost a similar bid to amend the constitution last year and will have to leave office in 2013 if he loses the upcoming vote.
He can propose the amendment referendum to the electoral authority either by collecting some 2.5 million signatures supporting it or through a request backed by 30 percent of Congress, currently dominated by Chavez allies.
Chavez said on Tuesday he has not yet decided which mechanism he will use.
The electoral authority would have to call the referendum 30 days after receiving the proposal.
Chavez launched his referendum campaign this week after regional elections last month in which opposition leaders won key states and the capital of Caracas, although Chavez allies swept most municipalities. (Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Brian Ellsworth; editing by Patricia Zengerle)
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Cemex: World Bank unit to hear Venezuela dispute
December 4, 2008
MEXICO CITY—A World Bank arbitration division has agreed to consider a complaint by Mexican cement giant Cemex SAB against Venezuela's nationalization of its local cement plants, a company spokesman said Thursday.
Cemex, the world's third-largest cement maker, has called the confiscation of its assets a "flagrant violation" of Venezuela's constitution and its expropriation laws.
The Monterrey-based company announced in August that it would seek arbitration by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, an autonomous division of the World Bank in Washington.
Cemex spokesman Jorge Perez said the center has agreed to take up the case. He declined to give further details.
Venezuela seized control of Cemex's plants in August as a deadline for negotiating terms for their takeover expired.
The company has said Venezuela's offer of $650 million for its local operations "significantly undervalues its business in Venezuela."
Cemex has not specified how much it wants.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called the nationalization of Cemex and two other cement companies one of many "steps toward socialism." |
