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Chavez implements Bob-land style land seizures
The Venezuelan government is to press ahead with plans to expropriate a large British-owned farm, sparking fears of largescale nationalisation of private property under the leftwing government. The national lands institute ruled at the weekend that the landowner - Agroflora, an affiliate of the Vestey Group, owned by the tycoon Lord Vestey - did not have a legitimate claim to the land. The planned takeover is part of moves to redistribute 96,440 hectares (238,620 acres) to the poor.

The government will take over all of Lord Vestey's 13,600-hectare El Charcote cattle ranch and the Pinero Ranch animal reserve, the land agency said. It will also take over a third private ranch, El Coco, and most of a fourth, the Borges Ranch. None of the ranch owners could be reached for comment. It remains unclear when the government plans to take possession of the lands.

According to President Hugo Chävez's 2001 land reform law, the state can expropriate farmland if it is declared idle, or if rightful ownership is not proved as far back as 1830. Critics denounce the law as a threat to private property, but Mr Chävez says most farms were acquired through illegal dealings before he became president in 1999.

The Chävez constitution, passed in 1999, says latifundios - landholdings of more than 5,000 hectares - are "contrary to the social interest". It states that private property can be expropriated in case of "public use or social interest," but the government must compensate the owner. The government has not said how much it will pay the owners of the four ranches.
Guess.
The land agency said it would take El Charcote, in Cojedes state east of Caracas, because the owner could only prove ownership from 1840.

Agroflora said several weeks ago it could prove ownership back to 1830. It said the ranch was not "idle", as officials had said, but had been invaded by up to 1,000 squatters.
Another idea from Zim-bob-we.
The government has promised to grant rights to 100,000 plots of land to the poor by next year, either government-owned land or territory expropriated from large landowners. According to the 1998 official census, 1% of the population owns 60% of agricultural land.
Do they also provide 60% of the food? Wonder if Hugo will accept US wheat for starving Venezuelans?

Posted by: Steve White 2005-03-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=58799