After Car Buying Became Impossible, Union Members Seized GM's Venezuela Plant: Report

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems
As Venezuela descends even further into economic and social turmoil, and as mass demonstrations turn violent, we learned yesterday that General Motors’ Valencia assembly plant is no longer in the hands of General Motors.The plant, which has sat idle for months, was “unexpectedly taken by the public authorities, preventing normal operations,” the automaker stated. Supposedly, the reason for seizing the asset lies in a 17-year-old lawsuit filed by a disgruntled dealer group angry over torn-up contracts. The dealers wanted billions of dollars in compensation — a sum that GM said “exceeds all logic.”A new report has shed more light on the automaker’s situation, revealing that the government wasn’t the first group to seize the factory and bar the doors.It was members of one of the GM subsidiary’s unions who first took over the plant, the New York Times reports. A spokesman for General Motors Venezolana said yesterday that the facility had been in the hands of the union members for 42 days. When GM appealed to the government to help end the seizure, Venezuela took the plant for itself, he said.Company managers are no longer allowed in the building, though union members are.For years, Venezuela’s increasingly autocratic government has expropriated private businesses in a bid to nationalize vast sectors of its economy, prompting many foreign companies to pull up stakes. GM is only the most recent casualty. Following the seizure, the company has announced the “immediate cessation” of its operations.As imports into the country dried up, oil prices fell and the country’s currency plunged, food and supply shortages skyrocketed. Of course, anyone with a grasp of world history knows how quickly empty plates can lead to Molotov cocktails and tear gas. The increasingly dire situation has also led to empty driveways. Vehicle sales in Venezuela fell from 112,000 in 2012 to 3,375 last year, according to IHS Automotive data.Stephanie Brinley, senior analyst for IHS Automotive, told the Detroit Free Press that the General Motors Venezolana plant hasn’t produced a vehicle since 2015. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which still maintains a factory in the country, built 37 vehicle last year.In a statement, GM said it would use all legal resources to “defend its rights.”[Image: Wikimedia Commons ( CC BY-SA 3.0)]
Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Apr 21, 2017

    "anyone with a grasp of world history knows how quickly empty plates can lead to Molotov cocktails and tear gas" ...and a rope for the country's leader. That's my prediction.

    • See 3 previous
    • TomHend TomHend on Apr 22, 2017

      @Lou_BC Oh I am feeling optimistic. Did they run out of other people's money in Venezuela?

  • Corollaman Corollaman on Apr 21, 2017

    Maybe the people will go in there and start building cars for the people to have for FREE, isn't that what socialism is all about, Bernie?

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    • Salzigtal Salzigtal on Apr 30, 2017

      @OldManPants Do we in the 1st World get to skip HyperNormalisation?

  • Tassos Jong-iL Communist America Rises!
  • Merc190 A CB7 Accord with the 5 cylinder
  • MRF 95 T-Bird Daihatsu Copen- A fun Kei sized roadster. Equipped with a 660cc three, a five speed manual and a retractable roof it’s all you need. Subaru Levorg wagon-because not everyone needs a lifted Outback.
  • Merc190 I test drive one of these back in the day with an automatic, just to drive an Alfa, with a Busso no less. Didn't care for the dash design, would be a fun adventure to find some scrapped Lancia Themas or Saab 900's and do some swapping to make car even sweeter. But definitely lose the ground effects.
  • MRF 95 T-Bird These 164s, as documented by its owner have to be constantly sorted, as they say. They are nice drivers. I’d rather find a, under the 25 year rule nice and easier to deal with Type 916 Alfa Romeo GTV/Spyder.
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