Chavez: Reforms will respect private property

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
President Hugo Chavez assured private property owners their rights will be guaranteed in Venezuela under a pending constitutional reform, as long as proprietors and investors respect the law. "Some citizens continue arguing in a dogmatic manner that socialism negates private property. No, our socialism accepts private property," Chavez said in comments published Sunday on the Web site of Union Radio. "It's only that this private property must be within the framework of the constitution." He did not elaborate. Few details have emerged from a special executive committee that Chavez has appointed to draft a proposal for overhauling the country's charter.