Analysis: Land Reform

Call to Action in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution and the Venezuelan Peasant Movement

By Vía Campesina, Apr 1st 2014

We, Vía Campesina Internacional, the international peasant movement that brings together over 200 million families in 77 countries, express our solidarity with the Venezuelan people, their peasant movement Bolivarian Revolution – currently the victim of an imperialist crusade that, together with reactionary right-wing forces, conspires within Venezuela and abroad in an attempt to retake the power they lost legitimately, democratically, and repeatedly at the ballot box.

Venezuela and the Battle against Transgenic Seeds

By Frederick B. Mills and William Camacaro – Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Dec 11th 2013

Photo Source: Office of Medical and Scientific Justice

Over the past two months, efforts to introduce a bill in the Venezuelan National Assembly that could have paved the way for the entrance of transgenic seeds into the country met stiff opposition from the agroecology and ecosocialist movements, stopping Monsanto and other GM firms from getting a foothold in the country.

Interview with Interior and Justice Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres, Part Two

By Miguel Rodriguez Torres and Michael Albert, Znet, Sep 25th 2013

(Reuters)

In late August Michael Albert interviewed Interior and Justice Minister of Venezuela, Miguel Rodriguez Torres, a close confidant and long time ally of President Maduro now, and of President Chavez earlier, on many matters critical to current events and prospects in Venezuela. This is part two.

Venezuela Makes Progress towards Fairer Food System

By Miriam Ross – Positive News, Nov 26th 2012

A grower holds a cocoa pod on a community owned plantation in Venezuela.
(©World Development Movement)

A combination of government support and community food growing initiatives is changing the face of the Venezuela’s food sustainability. Miriam Ross shares a taste of the results.

Fighting for Land and Territory in Urban Caracas: An Interview with Héctor Madera

By Jeffery R. Webber and Susan Spronk - Socialist Project, Aug 12th 2012

Barrios in Caracas (Agencies)

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).

A Personal Account of Land Occupations in Barquisimeto

By Jacob Foucault, Jun 4th 2012

There have been hundreds of land occupations in Lara State, where Barquisimeto is situated, in recent years (Reportero24).

Jacob Foucault writes his personal experience of a grassroots land occupation in a wealthy area of the city of Barquisimeto, in Lara state to the west of Venezuela.

Impunity for Venezuela's Big Landowners

By Joe Emersberger and Jeb Sprague , Nov 14th 2011

In this piece, Joe Emersberger and Jeb Sprague discuss filmaker Edward Ellis' documentary "Tierras Libres". The documentary explores the assassinations of peasant-activists killed by hired assassins for trying to implement the government's land reform project and their families' quest for justice within a judicial system that is still controlled in large part by the national elite.

Murder of the Campesinos

By Edward Ellis - The Guardian, Oct 4th 2011

A farmer casts fertilizer in a rice plantation on the expropriated and now redistributed farm of El Charcote in the central stat

It is not Hugo Chavez who endangers Venezuelans, but the greedy landowners killing peasant farmers with impunity.

Interview with Edward Ellis, Director of "Tierras Libres"

By Filmmaker, Edward Ellis, interviewed by Joe Emersberger , Aug 22nd 2011

Joe Emersberger interviews Edward Ellis, director of "Tierras Libres," a documentary on the struggle for land reform in Venezuela. In this interview, Ellis discusses the murders of over 250 peasant activists and the Venezuelan government's response to these human rights abuses.

“Without Confrontation, There Can Be No Social Gains” – An Interview with Vice-president Elias Jaua

By MinCi and Elias Jaua, Jul 20th 2011

Vice-president Elias Jaua (MinCi)

In this interview with the Ministry of Communication and Information in April, Venezuelan Vice-president Elias Jaua discusses the opposition, the dynamics of the PSUV party and his time as Minister of Agriculture. Jaua has recently been granted some presidential authorities, such as the right to approve expropriations, and would assume the presidency should Chávez become unable to continue governing.

Venezuela: Rural Killers Enjoy Impunity

By Federico Fuentes - Green Left Weekly, May 24th 2011

Venezuela's National Campesino Front Ezequiel Zamora (FNCEZ) is organizing a national mobilization against impunity to prot

Having arrived back in Caracas after more than two weeks visiting various rural communities, leaders from the National Campesino Front Ezequiel Zamora (FNCEZ) told us that the bodies of two of their comrades, missing since April 12, had been found.

Venezuela’s Battle for Food Sovereignty

By Federico Fuentes - Green Left Weekly, May 24th 2011

A Venezuelan food co-operative (GLW)

Thanks to Prolesa, a milk processing co-operative in Tachira state, local milk farmers now have an alternative source to sell their milk to rather than being at the mercy of prices set by profit hungry multinationals that often exported the product for higher profits.

Venezuela: Battling Land Inequality and Farmer Exploitation

By Edward Ellis - Correo del Orinoco International, Jan 18th 2011

Venezuela’s battle against land inequality and the exploitation of small agricultural producers has increased in intensity recently as the Chavez government steps up measures to redistribute fallow lands in the area known as South of Lake Maracaibo.

Venezuela: Food Sovereignty Project Launched

By Lisa MacDonald - Green Left Weekly, Dec 15th 2010

This urban garden located in downtown Caracas is part of Venezuela's ongoing efforts to achieve Food Sovereignty (World Pre

In October, Chavez called for the acceleration of the nationalisation of agricultural assets, to put more land and property owned by huge food corporations under public control. The land reforms undertaken as part of Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution have reduced hunger and poverty by allowing field hands to own the land they work.

Moving Toward Land Reform, Food Sovereignty and Agroecology in Venezuela

By Alan Broughton - Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, Aug 23rd 2010

A massive transformation of agriculture is occurring in Venezuela, a transformation that has lessons for every other country in the world.