Venezuela: Government to Pull Out of Nationalization Proceedings

Venezuela said Wednesday that it had begun the process of pulling out of a World Bank arbitration forum that is considering about 20 cases involving property nationalized by President Hugo Chávez’s socialist government. The Foreign Ministry said that its participation in the forum, the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, was banned by Venezuela’s Constitution, which it said required disputes to be settled in Venezuelan courts. It said that the move was meant to defend Venezuelan sovereignty and that the center was biased in favor of multinational corporations. The cases before the center include one brought by Exxon over the nationalization of its share in a heavy oil project. A World Bank spokesman could not confirm that the organization had received notice of Venezuela’s action.