Free Republic

Venezuelan government officials escorted by around 200 troops and police arrived at a cattle ranch run by a British-owned company today and to assess whether some lands may be turned over to poor farmers as part of an agrarian reform effort. Poor farmers handed over a proposal through which they could make use of the lands on El Charcote Ranch, owned by a subsidiary of British-owned beef producer Vestey Group Ltd. Representatives of El Charcote said they were negotiating the matter and handed over documents which they claimed show rightful ownership. Cojedes state governor Johnny Yanez Rangel, addressing supporters who...

The government of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez will expropriate its first farm, taking Venezuela straight down Zimbabwe road. The grab was announced this morning and will happen Saturday. The chavistas' first target is a British-owned cattle ranch. The move is a bold beginning for the chavista communists who will roll out both military and police forces for the seizure, beginning the first in a series. The communists' mendacious rationale is that a British company, Vestey Group, did not have proper title to 3000 hectares of its 13,000-hectare cattle ranch. So they are taking it all. But the owners of the...

The Governor of the State of Cojedes announced yesterday that on Saturday they will begin the “intervention” of the Hato El Charcote farm, owned by British company Vestey, under the decree issued by that Governor in mid-December. The concept of “intervention” does not exist in Venezuelan jurisprudence, so that it is unclear exactly what it means. According to the Governor: “The intervention will be performed with all of the machinery of the State to establish the first beachhead of the “Free land and Men Mission…With the aid of all of the Armed Forces and police forces and the authorities of...

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.