Venezuelan troops grab farms from "Lord Spam"

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=VOEMVNBLQ0Y3HQFIQMFCM5WAVCBQYJVC?xml=/news/2005/01/09/wspam09.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/01/09/ixportal.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=144772

Troops were preparing yesterday to seize a 32,000-acre ranch owned by one of Britain's richest men as the Left-wing leaders of Venezuela stepped up their controversial "land grab" policy.

The ranch, which is set in rich cattle-rearing land close to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, is owned by Lord Vestey, whose personal wealth from his family's food empire is estimated at £750 million.

The peer, who is known as "Spam" to his friends, is said by his associates to be saddened and angered by the threat to his ranch. He is, however, understood to be resigned to the Venezuelan government's "illegal" actions.

Critics of Hugo Chavez, the Left-wing Venezuelan president, have likened his policy to that of President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, but his government has tried to justify its policy by describing the process as one of "agrarian redistribution".