Former US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez of "grabbing and politicizing" the Venezuelan oil business and compared him with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in his memoirs released Monday.

The Venezuelan president "is seizing and politicizing the formerly proud oil industry, ranking second in the world 50 years ago," said Greenspan in a book entitled "The era of turbulence: Adventures in a new world," AFP quoted.

In a chapter devoted to populism in Latin America, the Fed former chairman noted that President Chávez "is following the example of Mugabe, who handed the seized lands over to the whites (…) his followers (…) who were not ready to manage them."

Greenspan matched the situation in the African country with state-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa). "Chávez replaced most technicians with his government stooges, causing a permanent loss of hundred thousand barrels per day of output capacity."