A program to redistribute farmland from wealthy landowners to the rural poor in Venezuela has shown success for the new farmers as well as violence on both sides of the struggle.
"Chávez is carrying out what may become the largest forced land redistribution in Venezuela's history, building utopian farming villages for squatters, lavishing money on new cooperatives and sending army commando units to supervise seized estates in six states."
"The violence has gone both ways in the struggle, with more than 160 peasants killed by hired gunmen in Venezuela, including several here in northwestern Yaracuy State, an epicenter of the land reform project, in recent years. Eight landowners have also been killed here."
"Supporters have formed thousands of state-financed cooperatives to wrest farms and cattle ranches from private owners. Landowners say compensation is hard to obtain. Local officials describe the land seizures as paving stones on 'the road to socialism.'"
"Before the land reform started in 2002, an estimated 5 percent of the population owned 80 percent of the country's private land. The government says it has now taken over about 3.4 million acres and resettled more than 15,000 families."
FULL STORY: Chávez keeping his promise to redistribute land
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City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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