Mission Zamora

Mission Zamora is an integrated land reform and land redistribution program in Venezuela, created in law by the Ley de Tierras ("Law of Land"), part of a package of 49 decrees made by Hugo Chávez in November 2001. The plan is named in honor of Ezequiel Zamora, a 19th century Venezuelan peasant leader.

Background

Venezuela's rural areas have seen substantial economic disinvestment, governmental neglect, depopulation, and abandonment ever since oil wealth was discovered in the early 20th century; as a consequence Venezuela now has an urbanization rate of more than 85% — among the highest in Latin America — and is, despite its vast tracts of highly fertile soil and arable land, a net food importer. The Ley de Tierras — "Law of the Lands" — was passed by presidential decree in November 2001; it included the creation of Plan Zamora to implement land reforms, including redistribution, in Venezuelan agriculture. The plan was created for several pressing reasons: to stimulate the agricultural sector in Venezuela in order to provide food security to the country (the only net food importer in Latin America) and more economic activity, to break up the concentrated economic power of the latifundios (75-80% of land owned by 5% of landowners, 2% owned 60% of farmland;Seth DeLong, , CounterPunch, February 26/27 2005 Maurice Lemoine, , Le...... ...
Read More