Venezuela: Venezuela’s largest brewery occupied by National Guard for “inspection”

Venezuela’s National Guard on May 3 occupied the largest beer-producing plant in the country, which stopped brewing operations on April 29, as well as other plants belonging to Alimentos Polar, part of the country’s largest industrial concern, Latin American Herald Tribune reported.

Expropriation and nationalizations are a common occurrence in Venezuela since the beginning of the Hugo Chavez era in 1999, although Polar’s would be the largest in the country’s history.

“Yes, the National Guard is still here,” a Polar official told Latin American Herald Tribune, asking not to be identified by name. “Personnel from different agencies but always accompanied by the National Guard.” On Monday, May 2, 60 plants were visited. On May 3, government presence remains in at least five of those plants, including all the four brewing ones.

The San Joaquin plant in Carabobo state is the largest of four owned in country by Cerveceria Polar, maker of 80% of all the beer drunk in Venezuela, and has been under inspection since Monday, May 2 morning.

The fact that other plants belonging to Polar are also being “inspected” by large contingents of the National Guard, representatives from the Labor Ministry and other government officials is causing concern in Venezuela’s business community, an industry source told Latin American Herald Tribune.

“These inspections do not look like the normal inspections, they are more intense, there is more armed presence,” said the source, before adding that she didn’t expect a “full own takeover” of Polar by the government. Maduro, however, promised over the weekend to take over any and all plants that stop production, rekindling the old chavista motto of “planta parada, planta tomada”, or “plant stopped, plant taken”.

Polar stopped brewing operations totally in Venezuela on April 29, saying it lacked the hard currency needed to import key raw materials. Under Venezuelan law, hard currency can only be purchased from the government.

Cerveceria Polar and parent company Alimentos Polar are owned by Lorenzo Mendoza, a Forbes-list Venezuelan businessman who has come under recent and intense attack by President Nicolas Maduro, who calls Mendoza “pelucon” (bigwig), a Colonial term derisive of the aristocracy, and “gorgojo” (weevil), accusing the businessman of, among other things, hoarding price-controlled foodstuffs produced by his own companies.

04 May, 2016