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 ...
Typical third-world looting. Why people expect lawless governments to respect ownership is beyond the capacity.
Of course...there’s another government getting more lawless by the day...but that’s a topic for another thread.
No sympathy.When you set up shop in a Fourth World hellhole you deserve whatever you get.
I would make some comment about the foolishness of owning a business or property south of our border, but the way things are going it won’t be any better here. It takes a principled government to respect private property.
Certain authors I’m familiar with often tout the joys of moving to certain Central and South American countries due to cost of living, climate, privacy etc. No doubt certain countries are safer than others but this sounds like a classic land grab on trumped up charges. Many of these countries appear somewhat friendly now, but they’re often given to instability.
Light it on fire and split....
" There might be legal precedent! Of course, Landsnatching . . . land, land, Land, see Snatch. Ah, Hailie vs. United Sates. Hailie: 7, United States: nothing. You see, it can be done!"
LMAO!
You mean like emminent domain in the US? It is getting almost as widespread as 3rd World—How many millions of acres has the government confiscated in just that last 10 years.
An investment in a place without the rule of law is just foolhardy.
shade of Robert Mugabe and Rhodesia, er Zimbabwe......Once Evil Evo has his way, the land will be ruined, the farms lay fallow, and the indigenous indians will be living in squalor again.
How feudal of them.
It was not an ‘investment’. The man moved there and started a family, built a ranching empire and wants nothing more than to live out his remaining days in a land he considers home.
The back story not reported is that the ranches are in an area rich in natural gas, and Evil Evo really just wants to get his hands on the gas under the land, not the land itself. Using the Indians is a clever ploy to confiscate the land for the mineral and energy wealth.
Drop the Commie propaganda and follow the money!
Fixed it
Still, in a land without property rights, expropriation can happen anytime.
A little advice:
Burn everything to the ground, salt the earth, and throw dead animals down every well.
Evo you sawed off midget.
Wait until the people of Santa Cruz secede from the people of La Paz and find safe haven with Brazil, whose military will gladly point their weapons in your direction, in support of their new found friends.
This thread is about Bolivia, not Obama’s America.
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