Co-Gestion in Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has implemented a new plan for business called co-gestion where workers participate in the executive management of companies. Chavez has stated that the country will soon be free of "the capitalist perversion" while the weekly Veneconomia described co-gestion as "a death warrant for private enterprise."

The Venezuelan constitution guarantees the right to private property, but Chavez isn't paying much attention to it. The co-gestion scheme is being forced on businesses one by one and essentially requires that the business owner hand over the company to the government and the (wink - wink) workers. The business owner presumably should be paid for his property, however, that's not a certainty.

From Herald.com:

Nacional de Valvulas was declared by the Congress to be of "public utility" after a strike paralyzed its operations. The government took control and plans to give the workers a 49 percent stake. Owner Andres Sosa has threatened to sue, saying the government has yet to offer him compensation for the factory, valued at $30 million.

For this to work, Chavez needs to implement a tightly controlled police state and then it's still doomed to fail. Socialism brings poverty.

Two things I'd watch for are people leaving in droves, no less than when Castro took power in Cuba, and the theft of the national wealth by those in power.