ANIMAL
PEOPLE
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investigative
coverage
of
animal
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Founded
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Owners of private wildlife conservancies worldwide told themselves after
the destruction of the SAVE Valley Conservancy that the Zimbabwean land
invasions were a phenomenon unique to Zimbabwean socio-political circumstances.
That belief was shaken when the Venezuelan National Land Institute ruled
on March 12, 2005 that the 80,000-hectare Hato Piñero ecotourism
refuge and beef ranch is eligible for seizure under a 2001 law allowing
redistribution of private land which is either under-utilized or held
under dubious title. Hato Piñero may be expropriated even though
the Branger family, operating Hato Piñero since 1951, claims to
hold deeds to a title established in 1794.
Like Robert Mugabe, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez rose to power on
the promise of land reform. Like Mugabe, Chavez is bitterly opposed by
large private landowners. But unlike Mugabe, Chavez is disfavored by the
George W. Bush administration, which backed a failed 2002 coup.
The major private landholders in Venezuela are oil firms and beef ranchers.
Taking land from either the oil firms or the beef ranchers is politically
risky.
Hato Piñero, which has 11,000 beef cattle but is mostly not used
for agriculture, may be the easiest takeover target despite the prominent
role of the refuge in protecting habitat for species including jaguars,
anacondas, caymans, Capuchin monkeys, and capybaras.
While the Branger family seeks support for resisting confiscation from
multinational conservation foundations, “A government order to halt
an irrigation system on the property is driving away wild animals to areas
where they could fall prey to hunters,” Malaysia Star correspondents
Pascal Fletcher and Patricia Markey recently wrote.
