By Jeffery R. Webber and Susan Spronk - Socialist Project, Aug 12th 2012
Jeffery R. Webber and Susan Spronk (JW and SS) interviewed Héctor Madera in Caracas Venezuela. Madera is one of the founders of the Comités de Tierras Urbanas (Committees of Urban Land, CUTs) and member of Movimiento de Pobladores (Poor Peoples’ Movement, MP).
Six thousand families will soon be the legal owners of the land upon which they have constructed their homes in the barrio of Petare, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced last Friday.
The rural life has been all but abandoned throughout the years in Venezuela, replaced by mass importation and consumption. Venezuela’s agricultural innovations have come out of a desire to create a viable alternative to the industrialized agriculture complex that has dominated. We, in the United States, can significantly draw from this government-supported and people-powered agricultural revolution.
On Saturday Urban Land Committee spokespeople from across Venezuela met in Caracas to demand the approval of a reform to the Law of Regularisation of Urban Land Tenancy, which would transfer private housing to occupying families and recognise collective property ownership.
Venezuela's National Assembly passed the Urban Land Law unanimously on Friday. The law significantly declares that "unused urban land is at the service of the public" and regulates the use of such land with the aim of combating the massive housing deficit in Venezuela.
A National Meeting of the Venezuelan Urban Land Committees (CTU) was held this weekend in the Miranda state capital, Los Teques, just outside of Caracas. Because of the autonomy and participation, the meeting was described by those in attendance as the “first of its kind.”
By Alex Holland – Venezuelanalysis.com, Feb 11th 2006
The Urban Land Committees represent one of Venezuela’s most interesting and significant developments. The success or failure of these Committees could be one of the most important factors determining how transformative the current process will be for Venezuela.
By Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com, Sep 12th 2005
Flying below the radar of most Venezuela observers, both pro- and anti-Chavez, Venezuela is undergoing a quiet revolution, in which urban land reform promises to dramatically improve the lives of millions of Venezuela’s poor. The urban land reform is functioning as a catalyst for the unprecedented mobilization of Venezuela’s barrios.
