Chavez's drive-by socialism

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By ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARACAS, Venezuela | President Hugo Chavez says he was heading through downtown Caracas when he was shocked by the sight of a huge, nearly finished shopping mall amid the high-rise offices and apartments.

"They had already built a monster there," Mr. Chavez said. "I passed by there just recently and said, 'What is this? My God!'"

So the often-impulsive president told an allied mayor to halt construction and said this prime block of urban real estate should be expropriated. He said the sprawling six-story building might be put to better use as a hospital or university.

The exercise in drive-by socialism illustrates Mr. Chavez's tendency to govern from his gut, and to leap in when he thinks other government agencies - in this case city planners - aren't doing their job.

The new Sambil mall was scheduled to open in the La Candelaria district early next year, packed with 273 shops, movie theaters and offices. Mr. Chavez complained - with reason, some experts say - that it would add yet more traffic to an area that's already so crowded "not a soul fits."

"Stop it, Mr. Mayor. And we're going to review all of it. And we're going to expropriate that and turn it into a hospital - I don't know - a school, a university," Mr. Chavez said during his weekly broadcast.

The newly elected mayor of the district, Chavez ally Jorge Rodriguez, told the president he would get the job done, though how remains unclear. Neither he nor Mr. Chavez spelled out possible compensation.

"There's a lot of concern because all of this was knocked down from one day to the next," said Victor Maldonado, who leads the Caracas Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services.

He told reporters the sudden decision to freeze one of Caracas' biggest investments is an arbitrary move that threatens 3,000 jobs and has led to a "rise in uncertainty" among businesspeople.

Constructora Sambil, the company building the mall, was not available for comment.