By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER 
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Thursday that his government will expropriate homes on the Caribbean resort islands of Los Roques, saying the structures were built on plots bought in shadowy business deals.
Chavez has nationalized hundreds of privately owned companies since taking office in 1999, but this is the first time he has targeted private homes for expropriation.
Chavez offered no details regarding the planned seizures of private homes and quaint inns, known in Spanish as "posadas."
"There are some houses that were illegally built. We're going to take them over," he said on television from the presidential palace.
The president said the government would build state-run inns on Los Roques, which is an archipelago of tiny islands offering snorkeling and scuba diving along numerous coral reefs and deserted white-sand beaches.
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