Personally I don't think there is such a thing as benign socialism. All socialists believe strongly in redistribution of wealth. If they want some of the same government run programs that we have then that is fine it is their country and they can decide for themselves what they want.

As an investor though I know that these programs will cost a lot of money and as governments have no money of their own the only way they will get it is from someone else.

In poor socialist countries foreigners tend to be an especially juicy target. You can do what you want with your money but to me mining is a risky enough business without the added risk of a confiscatory government.