Eminent Domain Threatened On Exclusive Golf Course In Caracas

Caracas, a city choked by shantytowns and traffic congestion, hopes to alleviate the housing shortage by a "forced acquisition" this week of the Caracas Country Club’s 18-hole golf course, and another exclusive course near the United States Embassy, to make way for homes for as many as 11,500 poor families.

"We’ve done studies that show that 20 families survive for a week on what’s needed to maintain each square meter of grass on a golf course," said Juan Barreto, the mayor and a close ally of President Hugo Chávez. "Their use is private and benefits certain sectors which are not the middle class or the poor."

"Anemic efforts by private construction companies to build low-income housing and a lack of new homes to keep up with population growth in this country of 27 million people have worsened the problem.

Earlier oil windfalls have encouraged the view that the government is almost exclusively responsible for solving housing deficits, according to Carlos Machado, who specializes in real estate and land issues at the Institute of Higher Administrative Studies, a business school here."

"Almost lost in the uproar was the housing crisis that led the mayor to rattle well-heeled Caraqueños in the first place. Official estimates suggest Venezuela needs 1.7 million new homes to meet low-income housing needs, even though 35,000 such units were built in the first half of the year."

Surprisingly, Mayor Barreto has not received support from the federal government.

" 'The federal government does not share the decision to forcefully acquire the golf courses of Valle Arriba and the Caracas Country Club,' declared Vice President José Vicente Rangel on August 30."