Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has ordered a takeover of the Hilton hotel on Venezuela’s Margarita Island.
The Hilton Margarita & Suites will help "develop tourism projects in a socialist framework," Chavez said in a government statement released to the Agence France Presse news agency.
Chavez's move comes less than a month after the hotel hosted the Africa-South America Summit attended by 30 leaders, including Libya’s Mommar Gadhafi and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.
According to reports, Hilton Worldwide "is evaluating how the Venezuelan government’s action affects its interest in the property," according to spokesperson Karla Viscontini. Hilton manages the hotel but does not own it.
Chavez said publicly in September that his government could nationalize the hotel, Hilton’s only resort in Venezuela. He seized control of the Caracas Hilton in 2007 and renamed it the Hotel Alba Caracas, now a meeting point for Chavez sympathizers.
