I had heard this story, but did not know the particulars to write about it, but Petkoff in Tal Cual tells all the details in today’s paper:
On October 30th. Hugo Chávez named General José Rafael Guerra Baudett, who is retired, as President of Aluminum company Alucasa, part fo the CVG empire, a company in which the State owns 75% of the shares.
General Guerra was honest and responsible and told Chávez that he knew nothing about Aluminum nor had any experiene in running a company like that. Chávze told him that if he could command 11,000 men in tHe border, how could he be scared of “having” 600 workers in Alucasa. The General took the job.
There you have it, Chávez’ clueless management style in a nutshell.
And people wonder why things don’t work in Veenzuela…
The Devil's Excrement 
November 11, 2009 at 8:36 pm
No more GWEH,
I am consistent with my screen name.No one can know if anyone’s name is legit.I did not use the word legit-Learn to read.
I used the word consistent.
You seem to have followed GWEH consistently, so I assume you have another name you comment under.
If this is so, with what moral authority do you claim GWEH to be imaginative when you yourself indulge and hide your usual screen name?
Also the fact that you insult people by using the expression ‘old geezer’, reduces the intelligence of your comment practically to zero.
November 11, 2009 at 7:55 pm
So let me get this clear, Firepigette: your screenname is somehow more legit than mine. Interesting.
I am sick and tired of listening to all these old geezers explaining what is going to happen. For the most part they are the very reason why Chavez is in power, so they should shut up. And I agree with Kepler, go back and check all the top-secret, hush-hush non-sense he has confided to us and you will see that he has a wild imagination.
November 11, 2009 at 7:49 pm
You may be right or you may be wrong Kepler,but my point?
Those who accuse should stand up and face the accused with their regular screen name and give him a chance to refute .
Otherwise accusing him is just yet another boring act of cowardliness.
“Gweh is telling Ow he is obstuse and he is referring to Ow’s having sex or not with a Venezuelan as if that were something of relevance. There is no need for that.”
I agree that this is a disgusting way to talk…but on the other hand this is the way almost everybody speaks on oil wars, and OW lets it pass.To me this form of grosero speech is unacceptable on a blog.
November 11, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Most of us, Firepigette? Talk for yourself.
Slander? You are funny.
Who is slandering whom here?
Gweh is telling Ow he is obstuse and he is referring to Ow’s having sex or not with a Venezuelan as if that were something of relevance. There is no need for that.
Gweh probably knows people within DISIP, military, and so on. Perhaps the Mossad, all US agencies, the BND and the Russian forces have knocked at his door. Still: we have seen his forecasts are just as those of others. One of the last things I remember was the one suddenly announcing Hugo was almost finished, Gweh published it in this blog and in Daniel’s.
November 11, 2009 at 5:59 pm
No more GWEH,
You should try using your regular screen name if you want respectIt is easy to comment as someone else while criticizing another…but try standing on your own 2 feet.
Are you afraid others will criticize you?
If you have proof that GWEH does not have insider info, come forth and prove it, or expect most of us to find your words arrogant.
It is fine if you disagree with him, but why slander him?
I will also remind you that what are facts for some are lies for others.
November 11, 2009 at 11:18 am
GWEH, I think most of us are tired of your coming in with all that “insiders’ info” and forecasts. You should write stories with all that crap and not pass it all as facts. I believe in your crap just as much as I trust any supermarket tabloid.
November 11, 2009 at 7:04 am
Gweh, there is no need to be so offensive with Burnett. You were saying just some months ago you saw the end of Hugo, that Diosdado or chacón (forgot who) were just preparing something, you kept repeating things about the end being nigh a couple of times.
November 11, 2009 at 2:11 am
burnett, if you knew venezuela at all, meaning if you ever lived and worked there you would know. what amazes me is how obtuse you are. you think you know it all because you shagged a guara and visit what once per year?
as a kid growing up in venezuela in the seventies, I knew about the corrupt generals from overhearing my old man and his work buddies. I think you have missed out on a lot of good stories!
November 11, 2009 at 2:03 am
burnett, and I thought there for a moment you had come around
November 11, 2009 at 2:01 am
I can see chavez clinging on in 2020
November 10, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Yes, I think that these years have deteriorated ethics and morals to the point that anyone trying to straighten things up would find a formidable enemy to deal with. Those that are successful these days in the private sector depend too much on connections and graft. Chavez had the goodwill and mandate to stop it and I see nobody in the horizon to stop it. If someone else came in power and continued on this, I would continue blogging against them, if I am still here. I do think it is getting hopeless when everywhere you go somebody asks you for a commission, when the financial system is slowly being taken over by the corrupt (32% at last count by people who were not even in the radar 5 years ago) and when nobody wants to manufacture anything in Venezuela. My blog is not the Chavez Excrement, he just happens to be the worst of a whole chain of bad Governments. We are seeing the extremes of the Devil’s Excrement, not even Russia is as rentist and corrupt as Venezuela has become.
November 10, 2009 at 11:33 pm
I was just making the point as a theoretical proposition. Obvsiously if there are no competant staff there already and you aren’t given free reign to bring in competent people then it would be impossible to do anything. But that would be true even of someone with lots of aluminum industry experience.
“What you seem to miss is the depth of dishonesty and unethical behavior prevalent in Venezuela these days, not only at the Government level, but also at the private sector level, people are cutting corners and taking advantage of the Government without any objective other than becoming very rich and screw the country.”
From what little I can observe of the country when I go there that sums things up. But tell me, do you take this to mean Venezuela is screwed no matter who runs it? I don’t think you really think that because if you did then why complain about Chavez – if he wasn’t screwing the place up someone else would be (to a lesser or greater degree). But it does sound like that is what you are saying
November 10, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Sorry, but those companies you talk about have capable management below, here there is no “old” management, just political hacks trying to steal money or make themselves rich, all these companies lose money ow, you have no clue as to the ignorance and mismanagement that takes place here, Sidor went from making money to losing 410 million in one year.
And I don’t think is that easy, in the US it works because there are lots of capable people underneath and the people named are good managers with track records, what the General is saying is that he has never managed anything more than troops, he is right, I would not like to run the company I work for, my skills are good for what I do, not for running the company and I know my company inside out.
What you seem to miss is the depth of dishonesty and unethical behavior prevalent in Venezuela these days, not only at the Government level, but also at the private sector level, people are cutting corners and taking advantage of the Government without any objective other than becoming very rich and screw the country. You need people with some skills and there are none. add to that that most of these companies are in deep trouble and that is why there are problems everywhere, no management, no investment, no money. The people that know what they were doing in hosuing, electricity, water and yes, aluminum and oil have all been relegated, you can not run a country with generals and Lieutenants who ahve no managerial experience further than ordering people what to do. The Venezuelan military has never been very competent and they have always been the most corrupt people in the country. It is really getting hopeless.
November 10, 2009 at 10:14 pm
I don’t think this is as crazy as you make it out. And actually Chavez is right about one thing, good leadership and management skills are transferable.
And people transfer them all the time. The best run U.S. car company isn’t run by anyone with experience in the auto industry, it is run by a former Boeing executive (and the companies with life long auto execs at the helm are disasters). IBM got turned around by someone who had so little knowledge of computers that people joked he didn’t know the difference between a PC and toaster. And several U.S. military commanders have been succesful presidents.
So if this guy really had good leadership and management skills then he probably could do the job. But given the state of the Venezuelan military, and the government in general, with being a sycophant being valued over being competant, it isn’t likely this guy truly has those skills.
Further, I don’t think Chavez wants people who are competent around. No quiere que nadie le haga sombra.
November 10, 2009 at 4:51 pm
The complete cluelessness of Chavezs is why I think that the strategy of pushing him forward is a winner.
He’s simply too clueless to realize what will or won’t work. He does have a huge ego though. And so, he probably couldn’t resist the bait.
And the sooner the whole house of cards collapses, the sooner you (the producers) can begin the rebuilding process. The current death by a thousand cuts reality is slow and painful. And by slow, I mean that Chavez could easily be in power in 2020. And 2030.
Everyday he grows stronger, don’t kid yourselves. How? By demoralizing an ignorant population. By destroying the means of production. By ripping apart civil society. By controlling communications – yes, CANTV was an extremely strategic decision, not yet fully implemented. Just wait, it’s coming.
Chavez campaigned on a platform to turn Venezuela into another Cuba – the pearl of the Caribbean or some other such nonsense. Little did Venezuelans realize that he meant it. Not only did he mean it, he’s doing it.
November 10, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Thugo’s line to his general reminds one of the line from the early years of the Castro years.
“Can we _____?” ( build 10,000 houses, harvest 10 million tons of sugar, produce milk like Ubre Blanca, reduce infant mortality faster than Pinochet…)
“Of course we can. After all, we defeated Batista.”
Different line from Thugo, but same result.
At least the general correctly perceived his competence for the job.
November 10, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Actually, kudos to Gen. Guerra who had the guts to call it like it is. So he really doesn’t have a choice, does he?
But that is what military are trained to do, obey orders to best of their ability.
I hope Gen. Guerra manages to make the best out of a shitty situation.
November 10, 2009 at 12:31 pm
First of all, soldiers don’t produce anything, except maybe death (if they fight), while aluminum workers do. Secondly, commanding 11,000 soldiers who are used to being ordered around is not the same thing as ensuring that 600 workers are actually efficiently doing their best to produce the goods they are actually paid to produce. Thirdly, soldiers are not members of a labor union whereas aluminum workers are; how they are are managed are completely different. But then, what else can you expect from a president whose only experience was bullying his soldiers around????