Of Venezuela’s two largest coffee makers, Fama de America and Cafe Madrid, the government nationalized the former and turned the latter into a mixed enterprise partially owned by the state.

“Gustavo Martinez, the secretary of the workers union at Fama de America, told the state-owned media that the workers are willing to collaborate with the government to revamp production. Under the old management, “the workers were always protagonists, but in the shadows. We planted, processed, and packaged and [the owners] were the ones who collected the profits,” he said.”

“In October, the government nationalized two major sugar processing plants that failed to comply with state regulations. Since 2007, the government has nationalized or purchased the majority share in several sectors of the economy, including the electricity, cement, steel, oil, and telecommunications sectors. “