Venezuela Promises to Grant 100,000 Plots of Land to Poor Farmers

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBOWZBQK3E.html

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's left-leaning government on Tuesday promised to grant poor farmers at least 100,000 plots of land carved from either state property or large private holdings, a step toward implementing a controversial agrarian reform law, a top agricultural official said.

Under the 2001 legislation, the government can and does seize land from large estates if it deems the property is not being used productively for agriculture.

Eliezer Otaiza, director of the National Land Institute and a close ally of populist President Hugo Chavez, emerged from talks with regional governors on the land reform holding up a pamphlet titled "War Against the Large Estates."

He said more than 2,000 government officials are evaluating both private and state-owned lands across the country to determine if they are productive or idle.

Chavez, who grew up poor in Venezuela's central plains, says land reform is needed to help bridge the gap between Venezuela's poor majority and its rich minority. He claims the wealthy have long held illegal property titles acquired through corrupt dealings.

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[theycanbiteme]

1. Some would call this a "populist" maneuver...

I think that its brilliant.

[stepnw1f]

3. No Kidding

He impresses me a lot.

[achtung_circus]

2. One more reason for Chavez to watch his back.

He's already on the US watch list as suspiciously independent.

[gratuitous]

12. Well, the Bushistas tried to topple him once

Didn't take back in 2002. I wonder why John Kerry didn't use that little episode to his advantage in the 2004 campaign?

[htuttle]

14. Because Kerry would have tried the same thing if he'd been elected

Here's what Kerry had to say about Venezuela:
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0319d.html

Though I voted for Kerry, I was preparing myself for a fight against his Latin American policies after January.

[Minstrel Boy]

4. BBC: Venezuela identifies 'idle' farms

Venezuelan authorities have identified more than 500 farms, including 56 large estates, as idle as it continues with its controversial land reform policy. Under a 2001 land law, the government can tax or seize unused farm sites.

A further 40,000 farms are yet to be inspected, the state's National Land Institute has told Associated Press.

Vice president Jose Vicente Rangel has said farmers and ranchers with their titles in order and their lands productive have "nothing to fear."

...

In a statement, Mr Rangel said the land reform is not against the constitution, which permits private property, while stressing the efforts are to "vindicate social and economically" years of inequality in the country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4144855.stm

[murray hill farm]

5. Now there is a real president!!

May he set an example for the world.

[oscar111]

7. "forty acres and a mule"

reminds me of something from our own history.

when was the quote?

[Robbien]

6. A 32,000-acre ranch owned by a British cattle company is among those

considered "partly idle" and its property titles are not in order, Otaiza said Tuesday

Wonder how much of this idle land is owned by foreigners. Just one more way to keep Venezuela poor and under the thumb of global capitalists. If Venezuela cannot grow its own food, they will have to pay through the nose to foreign capitalists for food stuffs.

[w4rma]

8. de-consolidation. diversification. (nt)

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. Helder Camara: "When I give bread to the poor they call me a saint;

when I ask why the poor have no bread,
they call me a communist".
Helder Camara

It is always the business
of people of faith
to ask of people in power
why the poor have no bread?

Send that to Freeperville.

Oh... and this is kinda cute too.... I am sure Hitler liked it just fine....

Paul wrote
"Every person must submit
to the supreme authorities.
There is no authority but by act of God,
and the existing authorities are instituted by him."

Now there’s a justification
for tyranny
and dictatorship
and oppression
if ever there was one.

"The existing authorities are instituted by God".

Which means –
so said Adolf Hitler
and so said the Afrikaaners in apartheid South Africa
and so said the communists
to the Christian communities in soviet Russie –
which means its your Christian duty
to obey the state
the government
us.

[Just Me]

10. EW!!! Watch the US corporatists persecute and attack!!!!

They'll be verily P-O'd by anyone's attempt to empower the powerless at the expense of the powerful!!!

They HATE compassion, charity, equality, economic justice!!!

[AP]

11. There are lots of catch phrases media uses to describe land

like "they're giving the land to all their friends," or "these people are too unsophisticated to farm the land themselves." They pretend that the land reform is an environmental crisis or threatening wildlife (as if the oligarchs were really land and wildlife preservationists).

Keep an eye out for all these tactics.

[htuttle]

13. Since the government has been making huge bucks on oil lately,

...I'm sure that they will be paying a good price for any land they foreclose.

Giving the land to poor farmers is a much better use of government foreclosure than seizing the land to build a stupid baseball stadium for the Texas Rangers...

[struggle4progress]

15. kick

[Vidar]

16. Hats off to Chavez.

[bemildred]

17. British Company Fights for Its Ranch

The privately owned British company Vestey is fighting to keep a cattle ranch that Venezuela’s government has targeted for expropriation under a land reform programme.

Agroflora, a Vestey Venezuelan subsidiary, said it can prove rightful ownership of the El Charcote ranch in western Venezuela.

Under a Land Law enacted by President Hugo Chavez in 2001, the government can seize land if it deems property is not being used productively for agriculture or was obtained illegally.

Eliezer Otaiza, director of the National Land Institute, said the ranch sits on land previously owned by the government and Vestey has failed to prove it legally acquired all the land.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3965356