BLOOMBERG/ Billionaire Lorenzo Mendoz's fortune has soared from $2 billion to $3.5 billion despite efforts by Hugo Chavez to nationalize his food conglomerate, Empresas Polar, Venezuela's largest privately-held company. “Chavez has him in his crosshairs,” said retailer Rafael Alfonzo. “It hasn’t been easy to dodge these attacks.” Empresas Polar sells the leading brand of beer and the corn flour used to make arepas-a diet staple. In an interview in 2008, Mendoza, 44, said the possibility of Polar being nationalized was “nonsense” and called for more dialogue between industry and the government. Food shouldn’t be “politicized,” he said.
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