GM pulls out of chaotic Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — General Motors has become the latest multinational company to pull out of Venezuela after it says government authorities illegally seized its plant there this week.

In a statement Thursday, GM said its factory had been “unexpectedly taken by the public authorities, preventing normal operation.” The company, which said its vehicles also were seized, vowed to take legal action amid a deepening political and economic crisis in the oil-rich South American nation.

The car manufacturer is one of a growing number of international firms to report major problems in Venezuela, which has recently been roiled by food scarcities, soaring inflation and weeks of bloody street protests calling for the removal of President Nicolas Maduro and his leftist government.

Auto production nationwide has ground almost to a halt — a paltry 293 cars were sold in March — because companies say they can’t access the dollars needed to import necessary parts and machinery.

Anti-government protesters blame Venezuela’s economic crisis on the policies of Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, who expropriated millions of acres of land and nationalized hundreds of private businesses and foreign-owned assets. But supporters of the government say the culprits are a drop in international oil prices as well as “corrupt” business leaders.

Mauro has accused GM and other foreign firms of intentionally slowing vehicle production in an effort to sabotage his government’s leftist economic policies.

GM has had a presence in Venezuela since 1948, and says it employed 2,678 workers at its factory in the industrial hub of Valencia and another 3,900 people at dozens of dealerships around the country.

Venezuelan officials did not respond to requests for comment about why they seized the plant.

Venezuela has been swept by the fiercest protests in years since April 4, when the Supreme Court announced it had stripped the opposition-controlled Congress of its powers. The outcry was so intense that some of those powers were quickly reinstated, but the street demonstrations have continued. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets Wednesday, resulting in three deaths and hundreds of arrests.

The protests continued Thursday in Caracas and other cities.

[FERNANDO LLANO/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS] An anti-government protester, wearing only sneakers and tube socks, holds a Bible in the middle of a cloud of tear gas during a march Thursday in Caracas, Venezuela. The man, whose back was marked with bruises from rubber bullets, approached heavily...