Ha!
Joanna
mike larkin wrote:
>http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2059
>
>Caracas Mayor Announces Expropriation of Golf Courses
>Thursday, Aug 31, 2006
>
>By: Michael Fox Venezuelanalysis.com
>
>Caracas, Venezuela, August 31, 2006 In a move that
>could affect thousands of Venezuelans, the Greater
>Caracas Mayors office decreed the expropriation of
>two Caracas golf courses, in order to build housing.
>However, in a declaration yesterday, the
>Vice-Presidents office announced that it is not in
>agreement with the expropriation decision.
>
>Greater Caracas Mayor Juan Barretoa member of
>President Hugo Chavez MVR partyfirst announced the
>expropriation of La Lugunita Golf Course in a
>controversial speech on August 22. On August 24, the
>official decree was registered in Gazette 00152 of the
>Metropolitan District of Caracas, declaring the
>
forced acquisition
of the Valle Arriba Golf Course
>(43 hectares) and the Caracas Country Club (80
>hectares) for the
Endowment of housing for the
>habitants of the Metropolitan district of Caracas.
>
>Barreto stated that the lands of just one golf course
>could provide housing for 5,000 individuals, and that
>this first phase of expropriations could benefit
>25,000 people.
>
>According to Barreto, 500,000 people in the Greater
>Caracas region live in
precarious situations.
"We
>have done serious studies that demonstrate that one
>square meter of golf course turf consumes what 20
>families of 10 people need to survive for a week,
>said Barreto.
>
>According to El Universal, Fernando Zozaya, President
>of the Caracas Country Club, said that the
>expropriation would affect 11,000 people
>directlyemployees and membersin the Country Club
>alone. He also stated that it would have a negative
>impact on all of those in the nearby community,
>because the terrain is not suitable for housing.
>
>"You would have to make a very costly investment in
>order to make these lands adequate for housing,
>because they werent designated for that since the
>beginning,
he said. Zozaya is still waiting for an
>official acknowledgement of the expropriation.
>
>Leopoldo López, the mayor of the Municipality of
>Chacao, in which the Caracas Country Club is located,
>agreed, and accused Barreto of not having a plan or
>having carried out studies of the land, which,
>according to El Nacional, he says is
meteorologically
>and seismically
high risk land.
>
>Instead, López said he would rather see the housing
>built on public property, such as with the plans for
>10,500 homes on lands pertaining to La Carlota
>airport, and for 11,000 homes on part of Fort Tiunas
>property, which López stated were accepted by
>President Chavez. López further suggested that a
>referendum be brought to Caracas citizens to see what
>they would like to use these spaces for, and which
>spaces they would like to see used for housing.
>
>According to Carlos Ciordia, Metropolitan Advisor for
>the Chacao, Baruta and El Hatillo Municipalities the
>execution of Barretos expropriation plans are
>
impossible and illegal.
>
>
In order to expropriate housing, you need to have the
>resources to be able to pay the indemnization
>established under the property law, when you are
>talking about an expropriation for public utility or
>social interest,
he said.
>
>But according to El Universal, Barreto announced this
>week that there are some irregularities in the deeds
>to the Valle Arriba and the Caracas Country Club golf
>courses.
>
>
We are respectful of private property, but here you
>have a dispute,
said Barreto,
because in 1983 and
>1955, they carried out a purchase of the land of these
>golf courses that were in the name of a Mr. Alejandro
>Ávila Gil, who was dead. They revived him, because he
>died in 1949, and six year later, they got him to sign
>some purchase documents.
>
>Barreto further justified the means of forced
>acquisition in that they are recuperating a public
>space and
democratizing housing.
>
>
The deeper discussion that we are proposing is the
>use of urban space. In some, you can construct
>housing, in others parks, in others, spaces of
>recreation for multiple use,
he said.
>
>Vice-Presidents Declaration
>
>In a declaration yesterday, however, Venezuelan
>Vice-President José Vicente Rangel announced that
The
>National Government does not share the decision
>adopted by the Mayor of the Metropolitan District of
>Caracas& in which the forced acquisition is declared
>of the land& considering that the same could affect
>constitutional and legal norms of the Bolivarian
>Republic of Venezuela.
>
>
The National Government respects and must respect the
>current legal order and condemns whatever attempt
>aimed at suffocating, regardless of where it may come
>from, the structure of the rule of law. In this way,
>under no circumstances, will it accept that the right
>to property, in which it is conceived in the current
>Constitution, becomes vulnerable in any way,
reads
>the declaration.
>
>Housing Expropriations
>
>Meanwhile, the Greater Caracas Mayors office also
>decided that 95 buildings in Caracas will be
>expropriated, benefiting 25,000 families that
>currently rent apartments in these, before the end of
>2006. The compensation to current owners is estimated
>to cost $93 million. The daily Ultimas Noticias
>reported that 24 expropriations have already been
>carried out since January.
>
>It was also announced that thus far, approximately
>3,000 families renting in the Caracas Metropolitan
>region have asked for their apartments to be
>expropriated and turned over to them, for which they
>will need over $1 billion to resolve everyones
>situation.
>Garcia called on the National Assembly to pass
>legislation putting a hold on forced evictions.
>According to Ultimas Noticias, there are close to
>2,000 planned evictions.
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam
>protection around
>http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>http://mail.yahoo.com
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
>
>