Caracas (AFP)

"Chavismo", a leftist ideology inherited from former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013) and still in power in Caracas, seeks to regain investor confidence through new laws after a few "mistakes".

The deputy Nicolas Maduro Guerra, son of the current president Nicolas Maduro, became the apostle of these new laws, including those establishing four special economic zones intended to attract entrepreneurs.

"All these initiatives aim to create confidence," he told AFP during a meeting with the foreign press on Friday.

"Entrepreneurs can do nothing without the government and the government can do nothing without entrepreneurs," he added, after years of stormy relations between the two parties.

Aged 31, he readily admits a "difficult" period between the "Chavista" government and the business world, which he accuses, however, of being in "the opposition".

"They are dedicated to overthrowing the government by any means (...) and we on our side have certainly made mistakes, we are human, we were at the heart of this struggle and it did not do much. well in the country, this fight did not do good to anyone ", underlined this deputy, also economist and musician.

The expropriations of companies, many of which then went bankrupt once in public hands, are among the "mistakes" of the past, he admitted.

# photo1

He also says he is aware that the attacks on private property have not promoted the image of the government which his father took over after the death of Hugo Chavez in 2013.

- "Seized" companies -

The employers' organization Fedecamaras, which demands from the government the return of nationalized companies to their former owners, estimates that more than a hundred companies were thus "seized", and some dismembered, during the "Chavista" era. .

According to its president Ricardo Cusanno, "public-private agreements are essential to find innovative solutions" that can help get out of the crisis in which Venezuela is plunged and that the Covid-19 epidemic has further aggravated.

# photo2

Mr. Cusanno said Thursday that a strengthening of the institutional and democratic framework and the climate of confidence was necessary to attract investment.

At this point in the crisis, after eight consecutive years of recession, it is necessary to recognize everyone's role, both economically and politically, in order to work together, underlined Mr. Maduro Guerra.

"The first step we have taken is to establish a frank and sincere dialogue, without going back to the past, recognizing that we must move forward (...) we have met with all sectors of the country, publicly and secretly ", he assured.

But for economist José Manuel Puente, a professor at the Center for Public Policy at the Institute for Graduate Studies in Administration (IESA), measures towards greater flexibility taken after years of strict price and exchange controls are a long way off. to be sufficient to emerge from the crisis.

# photo3

"We need a stabilization program and large volumes of international financial aid, in addition to a political transition," he told AFP, judging that the changes underway were insufficient to get Venezuela out. the cycle of recession and hyperinflation in which it is immersed.

© 2021 AFP