British company fights for Venezuelan ranch

The privately owned British company Vestey is fighting to keep 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.

If Agroflora cannot prove the validity of its property titles or fails to make the 32,000-acre ranch productive, Otaiza said the government could expropriate part of the land and impose a production plan on Agroflora.

“Our ownership has been uninterrupted since the year 1830,” said Agroflora.

Agroflora has been attempting to remove more than 600 squatters who have taken over 90% of the ranch’s land.

Chavez, a self-proclaimed “revolutionary”, claims a wealthy elite has long held illegal property titles acquired through corrupt dealings before his election in 1998. He has vowed to break up large land holdings and to impose a government-designed production plan on farmers and ranchers.