Jeffrey St. Clair sitka at home.com Thu, 08 Mar 2001 11:15:06 -0800
Venezuela President Warns Ranchers
by FABIOLA SANCHEZ Associated Press Writer
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez struck out at the nation's ranchers Wednesday, saying he will limit how much land individuals can own and warning that anyone organizing a militia to defend against armed groups from Colombia will go to prison.
A Venezuelan ranchers' association has strongly criticized Chavez, accusing him of failing to protect the 1,400-mile border with Colombia and prevent kidnappings and bribery by leftist guerrillas.
Some cattlemen have said they are creating private militias to fight off leftist Colombian rebels and land squatters encouraged by the guerrillas.
In an apparent effort to avoid Venezuelan versions of the violent right-wing paramilitary forces that fight leftist rebels in Colombia, Chavez told ranchers they must rely on the state for security.
''Nobody here can be organizing a private army or arming 20 men with rifles,'' said Chavez, the left-leaning president who is wildly popular among Venezuela's poor majority. ''Here, the armed forces are our defense and nobody else.''
The Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported this week that the right-wing United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, is training more than 100 Venezuelan farmers in western Venezuela. Venezuelan officials said they were unaware of any paramilitary presence.
The AUC had its origins in Colombian ranchers fed up with leftist rebel violence. With ties to Colombia's armed forces, the AUC has grown into an 8,000-strong force that has been accused of massacring suspected rebel sympathizers.
In addition to warning landowners who create private armies, Chavez said he had received a letter from peasants threatening to kill any ranchers who use violence to evict squatters. ''Is this what they want?'' Chavez said of the farmers.
The president also said he will impose limits on the amount of land individuals can own and said any invalid titles to large tracts of land ''will be thrown in the garbage.''
He complained that some 2 million landless peasants live in poverty while much of Venezuela's interior lies fallow and absentee landowners live in Caracas.
Chavez gave no details of the plan, but said it would be carried out peacefully to avoid the violence land reform programs have sparked in other Latin American countries.
Critics said they fear the plan could lead to abrupt expropriations.
<http://www.counterpunch.org/pipermail/counterpunch-list/2001-March/007088.html> -- Yoshie
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