But he squandered much of the goodwill by leading a campaign to legitimize the rebels, an idea rejected by many Venezuelans and Chavez allies abroad.
Now he faces more criticism because of files found on the laptop computers of a dead FARC commander. Colombian authorities have said the information includes documents indicating that the FARC received $300 million from Chavez and that the rebels were seeking to acquire uranium, possibly for a weapon.
"I think the takeovers are defensive moves, ahead of bad news, to shore up his base of supporters among the poor," said David Scott Palmer, who is head of Boston University's Latin American studies program.
Margarita Lopez Maya, a historian at Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, the capital, said nationalizations were a "characteristic" of the Chavez government, and of previous Venezuelan leaders flush with oil dollars.
"But it's an error to think that a government that is inefficient can make private companies run more efficiently. In fact, the opposite has turned out to be the case," Maya said, noting that hundreds of companies owned by the government went bankrupt in the 1980s.
Chavez last year forced foreign oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips, to give up control of heavy-oil fields in eastern Venezuela. Chavez also nationalized the country's largest telecommunications company, as well as Caracas' principal electric power generator.
The expropriations are unpopular with many Venezuelans, said Gustavo Garcia, an economist at a Caracas-based graduate business school known by its Spanish initials IESA.
He thinks the real goal of the takeovers is "to blame the private sector for problems he cannot resolve."
"By doing this, Chavez is blaming the sugar companies for the fact there is no sugar in the markets and the cement companies for the shortage of construction," Garcia said.
The case of Sidor is delicate politically because the majority shareholder in the company is based in Argentina, whose president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is a close Chavez ally.
But it was unclear Thursday what the Argentine government could do on behalf of the Argentina-based firm.
Chavez has previously reimbursed the foreign companies as well as Venezuelan farmers for the value of assets taken over, although owners have complained of lowball valuations.
Mexico-based Cemex, which operates the largest cement plant in Venezuela with nearly half the local market, said it was in talks with Chavez officials over compensation.
Mexican lawmakers passed a motion Wednesday urging President Felipe Calderon to stand up for Cemex's interests.
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chris.kraul@latimes.com
Special correspondent Mery Mogollon in Caracas, Times staff writers Patrick J. McDonnell in Buenos Aires and Marla Dickerson in Mexico City and Cecilia Sanchez of The Times' Mexico City Bureau contributed to this report.
