Posted on 08/03/2010 10:39:04 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
LA PAZ, Bolivia — A Bolivian court has upheld a government decision to seize a ranch from a U.S. cattleman and his family on the grounds they treated workers as virtual slaves, an official announced Monday
The National Agrarian Tribunal rejected a challenge by Ronald Larsen, a 65-year-old from Montana who has owned the 58-square-mile (15,000-hectare) ranch nearly four decades, deputy land minister Juan Manuel Pinto said at a news conference.
Pinto said the Caraparicito ranch would revert to Guarani Indians, traditional inhabitants of Bolivia's southeastern region, known as the Chaco.
He said the ranch and an adjacent 15-square-mile (3,790-hectare) spread owned by an unrelated family, the Chavezes, would be cleared by authorities and divided among 2,000 Guarani families.
Pinto did not say when the court issued its decision, which is not subject to appeal.
The Larsens could not immediately be reached for comment. They have vehemently denied treating their ranch hands — all of them Guarani natives — as indentured servants.
Larsen moved to the region in 1969, began acquiring land and married a Bolivian. He told The Associated Press last year that he deeded Caraparicito in 2005 to his three sons, all Bolivian citizens.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
“You mean like emminent domain in the US?”
Or asset forfeiture?
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