Venezuela Seizes Nestle, Polar Warehouse as Food Shortages Mount [View all]
Source: Bloomberg
Venezuelan soldiers seized a food distribution center rented by companies including Nestle SA, PepsiCo. Inc and Empresas Polar in Caracas as the government looks to boost support ahead of elections.
The companies were given 60 days to remove equipment at the La Yaguara industrial park, which will be converted to social housing, workers said. Several dozen workers of Polar, the largest Venezuelan food company, remain on the premises in protest against the expropriation.
“I’m scared not just for my job but for the entire country,” Beatrice Pellicer, a 24-year-old Polar corporate relations worker, said outside the warehouse sealed by armed police and National Guards. “We all just found out this morning that we have 60 days to leave.”
The government of President Nicolas Maduro has attempted to strengthen control over food distribution to alleviate chronic shortages of basic items ahead of congressional elections on Dec. 6. Maduro has limited the preferential dollar exchange rate to state food importers, while forcing local producers such as Polar and PepsiCo to deliver food to government-run supermarkets.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-30/venezuela-seizes-nestle-polar-warehouse-as-food-shortages-mount?cmpid=yhoo
= new reply since forum marked as read
