Caracas, Jan 25 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has asked for the cooperation of the national legislature in drafting laws permitting the elimination of capitalistic operating guidelines at public firms.
Chavez on his weekly radio and television show Sunday revealed the societal model he envisions, according to which public firms will not depend on their established production capacity or on the quality of their products, their costs, or their sales, because their survival will be guaranteed by an annual budget provided by the state.

With their operations assured in this way, the firm will not sell its products in the open market but rather will deliver them to a state entity which will undertake to market them at prices whereby the value added is eliminated.

According to Chavez’s idea, the consumer goods that are sold to the public in this way will be much cheaper but will be of similar quality to those offered by capitalist-run firms.

During the programme, the president telephoned the head of the National Assembly, Cilia Flores, and asked her to report to him sometime this week on the possibility of drafting laws “obliging” public firms to function under the new plan.

Chavez criticised the fact that currently public companies are being run in the same way as the capitalistic firms and are dependent on the market to survive.

Chavez urged his ministers and all his followers to commit themselves to a “great effort” to ensure that the public understands the socialist transformation under way in Venezuela and enthusiastically joins forces to achieve its implementation.

–IANS/EFE

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