CARACAS, Wednesday January 05, 2005 | Update
"El Charcote," a cattle ranch owned by the British Vestey
Group, is to be seized on Saturday "with state machinery,
to settle a first group of men participating in the Mission
Land and Mission Free Men," said Alexis Ortiz, solicitor general
of rich farmland Cojedes State.
After a meeting at the Executive Vice President's Office,
he explained that the move is to be supported by "the National
Armed Force and local police corps, as well as officials from
Governor Johnny Yánez Rangel's Office."
"We are currently making the first steps and flying over
the ranch to determine the areas of operation. In this way,
we are going to determine the number of people that to participate
in the operation," Ortiz added.
The intention is "to put order in chaos." According to Ortiz,
the ranch has an approximate surface of 13,000 hectares, with
3,500 hectares belonging to the state. Nevertheless, all of
the estate will be seized, "because we want to know its present
conditions."
"We do not have anything to communicate to the British Embassy.
The only territories deemed a part of such country are its
diplomatic premises and consulates. And, since we are not
intervening any of these buildings, there is nothing to advise."
10:07 AM. DIPLOMACY. Admired by the Colombian guerrilla after his coup attempt in 1992, the then lieutenant colonel Hugo Chávez Frías received financial support by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for his projects after his capture that year. This mostly explains the relationship and "debt" between the parties, as revealed by a paper of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) of the United Kingdom.