Reply #39: We had similar rules in the 1800's here in the US

[NickB79]

During the land rushes on the Great Plains, you were required to homestead your land to keep it. You actually had to live on it at least 6 months out of the year and farm it in order to legally retain rights to it. If you didn't, the US government would take back the land and you would lose your right to farm it. Chavez is enforcing something similar right now, because a few landowners are not farming nor living on their land, and have left millions of acres go fallow. In the meantime, there are millions in Venezuala who are poor and want land to farm, yet have no means to get it.