Making Use of Idle Venezuelan Lands
The Venezuelan government condemned the international campaign against its idle land recovery program, after denying that policy is a way to attack private property.

President Hugo Chavez talked in his Sunday TV-radio program Alo Presidente of some sectors interested in terrorizing the population and foreign investors.

The recovery of those land, the Venezuelan statesman said, is part of the fight to boost agricultural production, hurt by an obsolete and improductive system of large land estates and lack of investment. But it does not mean -he stressed- an offensive against private property.

Chavez expressed his willingness to sign agreements with landowners or alleged owners of large estate in order to benefit all the parties involved. The land is being distributed among farmers and cooperatives to make it produce.

The president warned he will act strongly to deal with any destabilizing attempt used by opposition groups against the recovery of idle lands.

Chavez also talked of the damage caused by those groups in Venezuela in 2002 during the coup d´Etat, as well as the oil strike started that year that ended in 2003.

As part of the country´s policy to redistribute wealth, the government is trying to rescue about 24 million hectares of idle lands.