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Whitewing--Chavez seizes ranches in Venezuela

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Faster horses

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I thought of you when I read this in Progressive Cattleman:

Chavez seizes 47 private ranches in Venezuela

CARACAS-Venezuelan officials and troops began seizing 47 private ranches
in Dec. as President Chavez pushes ahead with a socialist-oriented effort to take over big swaths of agricultural land.

Ag Mininstry officials began taking control of the land, accompanied by
soldiers and pro-government farmers. Together, the ranches in western Venezuela cover more than 93 sq. miles--about the size of the city
of Seattle, Washington.

"We're going to rescue the best lands for our people, " Agriculture Minister Juan Carlos Koyo said on state-television, noting that some of the lands are underwater from recent torrential rains.

Loyo wore a pistol on his belt and a T-shirt with an image of Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara as he addressed a group of officials and soldiers. "Right now, you are part of an army, of a collective...that is
going to liberate lands," Loyo said.

Chavez, a close ally of Cuba who is trying to lead Venezuela toward
a socialist system, announced plans to take over the ranches in
in western Zulia and Merida states on Dec. 8.
 
This particular seizure is actually old news, announced originally in mid December last year.

You'd need to travel around Venezuela to get an idea of just how much of this country's otherwise potentially productive farmland sits idle while the government continues to spend $$ from its oil exports to import food products.

The great majority of rural lands are actually already owned by the government to begin with though the government generally takes a hands-off approach towards the "owners" or occupiers if the land is productive. The majority of lands the government has seized are comprised of huge tracts of unproductive land, often "owned" by foreign corporations, and with nothing more than a caretaker on site. Clear title to land is also often very difficult to establish in this country and many of these corporations have questionable titles. Now, to be sure, Chavez has also used his powers to harass many of this political foes as well.

I'm not saying it's right to seize such properties, but it sure makes good political commentary for Chavez to do, at least from his point-of-view.

Here are some comments from an article I found on this subject:

The government says it aims to boost food production and aid the landless. Critics say the measures have often targeted working farms and are hurting food output.

Last month, officials accompanied by soldiers and pro-government farmers began taking control of 47 private ranches in western Venezuela covering more than 93 square miles (240 square kilometers). Chavez later said officials decided to let 16 ranch owners keep properties that are relatively small and being used productively.

My experience here has been that when squatters try to invade otherwise productive properties, the National Guard, INTI (the government land body) and other government bodies generally move quickly to toss out the invaders.

I even had a guy (an attorney) show up one day and claim he owned about 150 acres of my place. He may have indeed at one time bought it from someone, but he didn't do a thing with it. Another guy took it over, got all the correct paperwork from INTI, farmed/ranched it for 15 years and then sold it to me. In the end INTI told the attorney to take a hike, and he did.
 
In America, farmers are paid to take land out of production. :roll: They have not taken any land because we don't use it to suit them. :D Many that have never managed lands feel that they know more about how to care for land than people that have grown up caring for property; their aim is to tell us how to. :???: I guess we all face our challenges. :? The worst thing we can do is put our head in the sand. Better get off this box before someone knocks me off it! :D
 
There may be some similarities to what's been done here. Does Chavez sell hunting and fishing licenses as well?
 
Shortgrass said:
In America, farmers are paid to take land out of production. :roll: They have not taken any land because we don't use it to suit them. :D Many that have never managed lands feel that they know more about how to care for land than people that have grown up caring for property; their aim is to tell us how to. :???: I guess we all face our challenges. :? The worst thing we can do is put our head in the sand. Better get off this box before someone knocks me off it! :D
Click to expand...

Amen! Just because we have ranched for 1 and half centurys doesn't mean some fresh out of school ranger doesn't know much much more. Or a politician in a enviromentalists pocket. :roll:
 
Back to the original topic..........................

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Canadian mining company Crystallex International Corp. said Sunday it has been notified by Venezuela that its contract to develop a major gold mine has been terminated.

Toronto-based Crystallex said on its website that it received a letter from the state company Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana, or CVG, saying its operating contract for the Las Cristinas mine has been "unilaterally terminated."

The statement said that enclosed with the letter was a copy of a CVG resolution formalizing the decision, citing a purported lack of activity by Crystallex on the project for more than a year and also "reasons of opportunity and convenience."

Crystallex said it had upheld its obligations under the contract and prepared the site to a "shovel ready" state while awaiting a permit from the environment ministry. The environment ministry denied the request for a permit in April 2008 despite "Crystallex's fulfillment of the conditions to receive the permit," the company said.

Crystallex has considered the Las Cristinas mine in southern Bolivar state to be its principal asset, estimating it holds about 17 million ounces of gold.

There was no immediate comment from President Hugo Chavez's government. Chavez last year threatened to take over gold mining concessions in the country, accusing mining companies of harming the environment and violating workers' rights.

Crystallex said it was "reviewing its position in light of this correspondence" from Venezuela.

The company said it was "considering all steps necessary to protect its investment on behalf of all its stakeholders including the filing" of an international arbitration claim.
 
Kind of sounds like what most of the ranchers in the US/west have been asking for-- putting more government owned land back into production- and less going to some of the corporate interests using it for private richfolk buying it up for hunting preserves or the greenie-weenies buying it up wanting to use it for raising wildlife and buffalo..... :???:
 
Well, with Chavez, everything is political. But I can honestly say it's a crying shame to see such valuable assets sitting idle.

This country has just about everything.....gold, oil, countless other minerals, mild climate, fresh water, and millions upon millions of acres of arable land and yet it must import almost all of its food needs....and that's been the case since long before Chavez appeared on the scene.

Long ago my attorney here told me a joke about Venezuela. When God sent his angels all over the world depositing all those wonderful natural resources, whenever there was any left over he gave the extra to Venezuela. Eventually one of God's angels asked about the wisdom of giving one single country such an abundance of valuable resources and God responded, "just wait, you haven't seen the people I'm going to put there".

:D
 

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