[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: Venezuela Moves to Revamp Landowner System

[Paul Etxeberri]

>
>
>AMERICAS BUSINESS NEWS
>
>Venezuela Moves to Revamp Landowner System
>
>DOW JONES NEWSWIRES - January 5, 2005; Page A8
>http://www.dowjonesnews.com/
>
>
>CARACAS, Venezuela -- The government plans to hand out
>about 100,000 land titles to small farmers and
>squatters in the next six months as part of a "land
>revolution."
>
>Eliezer Otaiza, head of Venezuela's National Land
>Institute, said yesterday the government is studying
>public and private landholdings to determine if they
>are idle, or if their legal status is unclear.
>Government officials will demand all landowners show
>proof of ownership and prove they are using the land
>for productive purposes. If landowners fail to so, the
>state could go as far as expropriating it, Mr. Otaiza
>said.
>
>Landholders must supply the government with a detailed
>chronology of ownership changes on their properties
>dating to 1847, Mr. Otaiza said, to prove the land
>wasn't acquired from the government through illegal
>means.
>
>"If you're not being productive with the land and
>cannot show definite chain of ownership, you're done,"
>he said.
>
>The government of President Hugo Chavez is moving
>aggressively in a plan to overhaul landownership in the
>Andean nation, where about 80% of the population lives
>in poverty. Mr. Chavez argues that "nutritional
>security" demands that Venezuela become self-sufficient
>in its agricultural needs and has vowed to force
>landowners to produce what the country needs.
>
>Business leaders repeatedly have asked the government
>to respect private property. There have been many cases
>of poor Venezuelans invading privately owned land and
>buildings, and the government has done little to
>discourage such practices.
>
>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand