LAND
REFORM FOR A MODERN ECONOMY
New
legislation in Venezuela seeks to overcome years of injustice
by reuniting the urban poor with their
agricultural heritage.
LAND
REFORM FOR A MODERN ECONOMY
New
legislation in Venezuela seeks to overcome years of injustice
by reuniting the urban poor with their
agricultural heritage.
AN INEQUITABLE BEGINNING
Land ownership patterns in Venezuela are among the least equitable in the world. In colonial times, the Spanish crown allotted massive estates, today known as latifundios, to wealthy families. The peasant farmers who cultivated the land, particularly the indigenous people who had historic claims, were prevented from owning property.
Today, 75 percent of the country’s cultivatable lands are still in the hands of just 5 percent of the population. Landless campesinos continue to toil on lands owned by others, but much of the country’s agricultural areas remain idle.
Thousands of hectares of farmland sit idle
1960s: FAILED LAND REFORM
In the 1960s, many Latin America nations initiated programs to redistribute portions of massive estates to peasant farmers. Under the new system, workers were given small plots, suitable for little more than substance farming, but left without access to the roads, water resources and tools they had utilized under the previous system.
The redistribution programs failed even more miserably in Venezuela because the timing corresponded with the country’s oil boom. When the Venezuelan leadership of the era focused its resources on industrial development, it de-invested in the nation’s agricultural sector. Thousands of rural peasants flocked to urban centers for oil and industrial jobs, and their newly-granted lands were quickly reclaimed by the wealthy landholders. Today Venezuela remains the most urbanized country in Latin America, with 87 percent of the population living in cities. Crime-ridden shantytowns house thousands of urban families while vast tracts of rural land remain underdeveloped. Landless peasants literally cannot go home again.
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
Aside from the obvious injustice of the current landowning system, the enormous amount of unused land poses economic and developmental problems for Venezuela. Despite ideal growing conditions and fertile soil, Venezuela today imports 70% of its domestic food needs. By shutting willing workers out of an agricultural economy, the current land system impedes the potential for individual families to gain self –sufficiency, and prevents the growth of a stable middle class. At a national level, the system prevents a logical diversification of the economy, further pegging Venezuela’s financial fortunes to the fluctuating trends of the oil sector.
For these reasons, the Chavez administration has made land reform a national priority, initiating a sweeping program to utilize idle lands, allowing thousands of families to return to the countryside and participate in the nation’s economy.
HOW THE REFORMS WORK
Venezuela’s ambitious Law on Land and Agricultural Development, passed in 2001, is now in effect. The first phase of the law is to define and categorize what constitutes idle land, and to determine who actually holds title to each tract. The second phase tackles the economic, developmental and social problems in a variety of ways. Most significantly, the legislation:
This last point has been controversial among the owners of latifundios. Viewing it as an attack on their property rights, estate holders have resisted mightily. In the past 4 years alone, more than 150 rural leaders have been killed for their advocacy of land reform. Because rural justice systems are still dominated by the wealthy elite, many of these killings have never been brought to trial.
It is clear that this democratic experiment will be opposed by powerful forces inside Venezuela and by the United States government. As Americans, it is our responsibility to make sure that our leaders respect the right of Venezuelans to implement reforms without outside pressure.