Coke Zero no mas in Venezuela
Filed under: Food, Ripoffs and Scams
What does Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez want this time? And why has Coca-Cola become his favorite whipping boy?
For the third time in three years, the Venezuelan government has unloaded on the company, this time banning Coke Zero due to unspecified "dangers to health." The soft drink, produced by Coca-Cola Femsa, uses aspartame and acesulfame-K as sweeteners.
In 2003, national guard troops took over local Coke plants after Chavez complained that the company was helping forment a public strike when workers walked off the job in support of the opposition.
In 2006, more than 10,000 former employees of Femsa's Venezuelan operations blockaded 75 plants and warehouses demanding $2.3 million in pension payments they believed the company owned them. Current employees also joined the action to protest further job cuts.
The protests followed after Chavez's government backing the pension claim and threatening to nationalize the company's operations in Venezuela.
In March, the mayor of Caracas announced that Coca-Cola had agreed (been forced to?) to relocate a distribution center to free up land on which the government will build new housing as part of "the new socialist communities and establishment of communes." Chavez had publicly announced that the company had two weeks to vacate the premises. There are many who claim the sweeteners in Coke Zero have negative health consequences, but whenever the Venezuelan government pops the cap off of the company's business, it's political. Follow the politics behind this action and ask yourself "What does Hugo want now?" Perhaps he's following Kim Jong Il's lead in testing Obama's resolve.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
6-11-2009 @ 2:08PM
3rd force said...
There is one appropriate response which the American people can make - and it's high time to take money out of that Venezuelan brat's pockets!! For years, I have personally boycotted Citgo gasoline and its other products because it is a subsidiary of his regime. The American people need to put him in his place by refusing to buy ANY Citgo products so long as Chavez is Venezuela's dictator and persists in insulting the United States and its citizens - and this boycott needs to be LOUD and public in its presentation!! TO HELL WITH CHAVEZ AND HIS REGIME!!
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6-11-2009 @ 3:14PM
Michelle said...
While I agree with your statements, I also have to say I do not drink Coke Zero or anything with aspartame in it. It is not good for you. The potential dangers are too high, in my opinion, to justify drinking all those man made chemicals. I prefer to drink regular Coke, in moderation, as the natural sugars in it are just that - natural...
6-11-2009 @ 6:50PM
Nathan said...
Michelle, There is nothing natural about what goes into any coke products....unless you can tell me what plant, high-fuctose corn syrup, grows on.
6-11-2009 @ 6:29PM
jimmy smitts said...
Uhm no offence buddy but you come from the most stalinistic, facist dictatorship in recent times, the united states of america. maybe i'd be a little more concerned about whats happening in your own backyard than venuzuelas....
6-11-2009 @ 2:10PM
parrotsrnuts said...
CHAVEZ IS RIGHT...DIET COKE HAS TOO MANY CHEMICALS AND ALL OF THEM ARE LINKED TO NEUROBLASTOMA CANCER, A COMMON CANCER IN KIDS AND YOUNG ADULTS. AT LEAST CHAVEZ HAS NOT FEAR ABOUT THE RICH CORPORATIONS.
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6-11-2009 @ 3:01PM
bob said...
You are making some real bold comments. where can I find the peer reviewed research you get your "facts" from?
6-11-2009 @ 2:14PM
doc said...
venezuela is a 3rd world shithole, 'nuff said.
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6-11-2009 @ 2:24PM
Dakota said...
Venezuela is far from a 3rd world country. People there have more money that you will ever have in your lifetime loser.
6-11-2009 @ 2:36PM
tellitlikeitis said...
Okay, then it's just a regular shithole.
6-11-2009 @ 2:47PM
Lordfool said...
Dakota- Income GDP and Per Capita of Venezuela
according to WoframAlpha.com
GDP | $236.7 billion per year (world rank: 35th)
GDP at parity | $368.6 billion per year (world rank: 31st)
GDP per capita | $4949 per year (world rank: 101st)
GDP real growth | 9.328%per year (world rank: 11th)
gini index | 0.482 (world rank: 105th)
inflation rate | 18.36%per year
unemployment rate | 8.5% (world rank: 91st)
Per Capita= Per person, i.e. Average income is $4949.00 per
year per person.
It is indeed, by definition, a 3rd world country. Check your facts before trying your weak insults.
6-11-2009 @ 4:58PM
Mimi said...
Venezuela is not a 3rd world shithole... not at all... Chavez is a shithole among his bandits... I mean his suckass people... who are with him just because they are getting richer each day... while the people is getting poorer...
6-11-2009 @ 5:09PM
obamaeatssh1t said...
Dakota wont be able to understand the economic info posted. Socialist dont speak math...
6-11-2009 @ 5:20PM
sue said...
Let's all chip in and buy Dakota a one-way to Venezuela.
6-11-2009 @ 5:31PM
skyynyte said...
5k a year per capita? You can live well, off $100 a month. A restaurant meal for 4 would cost you 11 dollars. Just to equate it to something in America that would cost well over $100. Housing has toilets even toilet paper. I say that's at least 2nd world. Go to rural Arkansas. The people there make it a 3rd world country. Guns and pickup trucks.
6-11-2009 @ 2:12PM
LT_Prasuhn said...
Simple solution...Coca-Cola pulls out of Venezuela altogether. Then we'll see where Chavez goes (or comes from) with all the 'extra' added unemployed people.
There was a plant in my home town (Fort Wayne, Indiana) many years ago as I was growing up and going through high school. The plant known as Zollner Pistons (the 'original' backer of the now Detroit Pistons, before known as the Zollner Pistons) was paying its employees at or slightly above 'union scale' (it was a non-union plant) and the 'younger' people were wanting to bring the union on board. 'Old Man' Zollner said, 'No way!" "If you bring in the union, I'll just close up shop and move to Canada." Well, 'they' brought in the union and 'Old Man' Zollner kept his word. He locked up shop and moved everything to Canada leaving ONLY the 'Old Timers' something to show for their 'time' with the company (they kept their pensions). The plant gave Christmas bonuses, paid vacations, a good health care policy for all employees, in addition to the 'GREAT' pay for NOT being a Union Shop. They had it MADE, but screwed themselves! DUMMIES!!!
I worked for a union shop (the railroad) and they didn't support me (as 'promised') when a time came and I was (pun intended) 'Railroaded' out of a job. Unions SUCK!!! Same as SOCIALISM!!
'Nuff Said',
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6-11-2009 @ 3:09PM
Melinda said...
AMEN! Unions are killing this country!
6-11-2009 @ 2:14PM
parrotsrnuts said...
ASPERTANE AND ACESULFAME-K ARE DANGEROUS CHEMICALS LINKED TO NEUROBLASTOMA CANCER...A COMMON CANCER AMONG KIDS.
CHAVEZ SHOULD HEAD THE FDA HERE IN THE U.S.A....!!!!
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6-11-2009 @ 3:01PM
larry said...
I agree ,why put this in anything unless you are trying to thin out the population
6-11-2009 @ 2:28PM
Madeleine said...
Chavez is fianlly right, he has more brains than or FDA. Aspertame and artificial sweetners are bad for your health, especially for children, it is in everything lately, its a Monsdanto company. High Fructose cornsyrup, also a sweetner, is often in with the aspertame and regular sugar, how many sweetners do we need in one product? Then they wonder why people are getting fat. Why don't we kick Obama out and put the CEO of Monsanto in, he runs our Government and the FDA anyway. Good for Chavez
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6-11-2009 @ 2:18PM
Antonio said...
parrotsrnuts : Why don't you move to Venezuela to live with your beloved Chavez. You are what is called "a useful idiot"
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