Chávez Denies Elimination Of Private Property In Venezuela

"President Hugo Chávez says that there are no plans to eliminate private property in Venezuela even as the country overhauls its eight-year-old Constitution this year in line with his vision for '21st century socialism.'"

"'The Bolivarian revolution, I repeat, doesn't exclude, prohibit or have any kind of plan to eliminate private property,' Chávez said over the weekend, referring to his program to transform Venezuela in honor of the 19th-century South American revolutionary, Simon Bolivar."

"While preserving private property, a revised Constitution would also protect 'social' and 'collective' property, like the country's large oil reserves, Chávez said, without giving further details."

"'Private property isn't the only kind of property,' Chávez said Saturday. 'When the conquistadors arrived here by sea, there was social property, collective property, and everyone was the owner of everything.'"