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Home Invasion

In cop reporter's lingo in the United States, a "home invasion" is code for burglary of a residence.

In Venezuela, during this Bolivarian Revolution, the phrase means something quite different. A 2001 mandate legalized the taking of "unused" private property. Government officials have said the law was primarily designed to claim private farmland and use it to benefit the country.

As of 2005, the Venezuelan government had identified more than 500 farms that were "unused" and available for citizens to claim and work themselves, according to Hands Off Venezuela, a pro-Chavez organization. Farmers and ranchers who have long owned vast tracts of Venezuela's rich soil have found it increasingly dangerous due to roving bands of Chavistas who say the land is theirs for the taking.

In the cities, construction projects that have stalled due to inevitable red tape have never been finished. Crews have found their partially-finished apartment buildings are inhabited by people who once lived in tin shacks that threatened to slide off hillsides in the event of a rainstorm.

In some cases, the government has tried to provide help for the poor who insist, and they believe with Chavez's blessing, that they have the right to live alongside wealthier citizens. In Maracaibo, Wayuu indigenous people have built a sprawling slum on land owned by the University of Zulia, according to one university professor.

The Wayuu, who came to Venezuela's second-largest city in search of jobs, refused to leave, so the government is in the midst of building an apartment complex for them. The Wayuu are expected to move into the apartments sometime this year, but they most likely won't stay there long, said Rubia Gonzalez, a Wayuu woman who works for the government's Ministry of Indigenous People.

The government is building the apartments without considering Wayuu lifestyle, Gonzalez said. The people will probably live in the apartments for a few weeks, then leave in favor of a place, private property or not, whether they can rebuild their shacks with outhouses away from the living quarters, in traditional Wayuu style.

"They say it's more hygenic that way," Gonzalez said.

In Caracas, journalists have speculated that the government has provided buses to bring people from the barrios into the city to live in empty homes and apartments. If Venezuela's new constitution is approved by voters in December, it's possible that private property considered unnecessary or "unused" by the government could be turned over to those who could never afford to buy it themselves. That may include second homes and apartments that are rented out, vacation homes and any land not in active use.