26th March 2007

The following news piece was published today in the BBC web site.

Venezuela steps up land seizures

Venezuela's government has seized more than 330,000 hectares (815,450 acres) of land to redistribute them under an agrarian reform programme.

President Hugo Chavez said 16 farms - which he described as large and unproductive - had been expropriated.

His government was moving towards a "collective property" policy as part of its "drive towards socialism", he said.

Critics say land reform has failed so far to revive the agricultural sector and end dependence on food imports.

More expropriations

Mr Chavez announced the latest round of land seizures during his TV and radio programme Hello, President.
"From today [Sunday] this becomes social property to satisfy the needs of the people," he said, speaking from one of the seized farms in the state of Barinas.

Another 13 farms would be expropriated in the coming weeks, Mr Chavez added.

He said the land would be used for cattle production.

In the past five years, almost 2m hectares have been seized after being declared unproductive or because the owners did not have the property documents in order.

Mr Chavez, who was re-elected with a large majority last year, has pledged to turn Venezuela into a socialist state.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6494843.stm

The headline using the word “seizures” sets the tone for the article and it is only at the end that the truth of yesterday’s announcement by Chavez is hinted at. “the owners did not have the property documents in order”. There were no “expropriations” as stated in the article and Chavez never said what was quoted.

For readers interested in the truth, the 16 farms intervened by the government had fenced off large tracts of land many years ago which belonged to the state. The National Land Institute (INTI) is carrying out a nationwide audit of all agricultural land whereby the “owners” are required to provide property titles as proof of ownership. In the case of these 16 farms, the documents were not forthcoming and as a result the state took the land back as it was being illegally occupied by the owners.

This is hardly a “seizure” and much less “expropriation” or “confiscation” but the state recovering what had been stolen from it and the Venezuelan people many years ago by the landed oligarchy.

We are forced to ask why the international media writes in such as way as to imply that Chavez is committing some sort of crime against private property, when the land had been in fact stolen.

Is the BBC defending land theft by these farm owners against the sovereign right of the Venezuelan state to recover agricultural lands and put them to good use for the landless peasants?

The BBC and other media should take a course in the ethics of journalism and report the facts and the circumstances instead of just throwing together an inaccurate piece of reporting designed to mislead public opinion.

Andy Goodall

VSC Coordinator