Re: NACLA on RCTV

[raghu <mraghu01@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 6/6/07, Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Then, while reading an article about rural land redistribution, it hit
> me: this IS how shit works in Venezuela. See, the rural land
> redistribution works like this: some squatters go and burn down a big
> rancher's crops, tell him that they own the land now, and then demand
> that Chávez let them keep the land, which he often does. As a result,
> lot's of once productive land is now being used by people who either
> don't really know what they're doing, don't have the capital to do it,
> or both. Also, once productive land owners are no longer investing in
> their land or animals because they fear that it will be a waste. Why
> grow sugar cane or raise a chicken when some squatter is just going to
> take it away from you with the blessing of the federal government?


EB may be an idiot, but it seems to me that he has a point about the
land redistribution. Is there infrastructure in place to train and
educate the new landowners? Are the old land-owners compensated for
the repossessed land? Do they have incentives to stay and help with a
transition? Is there any official planning to cope with the inevitable
loss of productivity in the transition period?

(Apologies in advance to Michael L. if this information is well-known
- I haven't got around to reading "Build it now.." yet..)
-raghu.