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   From: pedro1940@progression.net   
      
         Associated Press   
      
      
      
         CARACAS, Venezuela - A state governor allied to leftist President Hugo   
   Chavez has ordered Venezuelan troops to seize an abandoned tomato-processing   
   plant owned by the H.J. Heinz Co., a state official said Monday.   
      
         The plant in the eastern state of Monagas still belongs to Heinz but   
   hasn't been used for years, said Angelica Rivero, a spokeswoman for the   
   governor.   
      
         "The governor decided to seize the plant so it can be protected from   
   looters and later be put to use," Rivero said.   
      
         Monagas Gov. Jose Gregorio Briceno told the state-run Bolivarian News   
   Agency the plant changed hands several times under previous governments   
   before Heinz purchased it in 1997 and later ceased operations.   
      
         A key official at the Pittsburgh-based food company said the move will   
   not affect Heinz's ability to do business in Venezuuela.   
      
         "Heinz has a major plant in Venezuela employing 700 people that is not   
   affected by this action. We see this as a local issue," said Ted Smyth,   
   chief administrative officer.   
      
         He said the company is awaiting the government's next step regarding   
   the plant, which hadn't been used for at least eight years and never   
   employed more than 50 people.   
      
         Officials were expected to expropriate the plant, a move that would   
   require the Venezuelan National Assembly to declare the property to be of   
   "public interest." It wasn't immediately clear whether soldiers were posted   
   at the plant Monday.   
      
         Chavez, a close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro who says he supports   
   socialism, has said the government may expropriate the property of companies   
   whose factories are idle or partially paralyzed in order to put them back to   
   work.   
      
         One nearby town, Caicara, suffered because of the actions of the   
   "transnational monopoly," Briceno told the state news agency, known by its   
   Spanish initials ABN.   
      
         "At that time I was mayor of that town and I felt impotent, my hands   
   tied, as 30 million kilos (66 million pounds) of tomatoes ... were produced,   
   and the closing of the business led the farm workers to go broke," Briceno   
   told ABN.   
      
         Venezuela's constitution says the government will respect private   
   property but that the state may expropriate property if for public use or   
   "social interest," as long as compensation is paid.   
      
         So far this year, the government has expropriated the assets of a   
   failed paper company and an industrial valve maker.   
      
         The governor's order to seize the tomato plant came as Venezuela's   
   largest food producer, Alimentos Polar, said it was challenging the legality   
   of a military takeover of its storage facilities in the southernwestern   
   state of Barinas.   
      
      
      
      
      
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