Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was reported to have said on Thursday he was ” keeping an eye on” the Venezuelan unit of General Motors as the company has been forced to halt operations because of an ongoing labour dispute.

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“I’m keeping an eye on them” Chavez said during a televised speech, according to Dow Jones. “If foreign companies don’t want to pay their workers, they can leave.”


The report noted that the president this year nationalised the country’s largest steelmaker after a prolonged labour dispute affected the company’s operations.


General Motors is the country’s largest car manufacturer. Chavez, who, the report noted, never mentioned the company explicitly, said Venezuela could start manufacturing Russian Lada cars instead.


Chavez also said that he asked one of his ministers to pass a law forcing car manufacturers in Venezuela to purchase wheels for their assembly plants from local companies.

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On Friday, according to Reuters, Chavez expelled the US ambassador in the growing feud between Washington and Latin America’s leftist leaders.


Chavez had, a day earlier, repeated an oft-made threat to cut off Venezuela’s oil supply to the United States.


He is supporting Bolivia’s embattled president who has accused the US ambassador there of instigating an anti-government protest and ordered him home. The US retaliated yesterday by booting Bolivia’s representative out of Washington.


Former left-leaning London mayor Ken Livingstone – voted out in May – was derided some time ago for doing an oil deal for the capital’s transport system with Chavez, who visited the UK at the time.