Chavez Says Golf Courses Should Be Seized, Put to Other Uses

Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- President Hugo Chavez said some of Venezuela’s golf courses should be expropriated and used for other purposes.

“That’s an injustice -- that someone should have the luxury of having I don’t know how many hectares to play golf and drink whiskey and, next door, there’s misery and children dying when there are landslides,” Chavez said during his weekly television show, “Alo, Presidente.”

Dozens of people died in the past month when landslides caused their homes to collapse after heavy rains. Chavez said he will dedicate himself to resolving Venezuela’s housing shortage.

Chavez also called on Venezuelans to actively look for abandoned private land to expropriate.

“Look for irregularities, and by that I mean good land that’s been abandoned,” he said.

--Editors: Sylvia Wier, Joe Sabo

To contact the reporter on this story: Charlie Devereux in Caracas at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at [email protected]