CHILE: Agrarian reform

Carlos López explains his reference to the loss of his family property in Chile: "Here is my experience with the Chilean agrarian reform. The Frei and Allende governments had expropriated our Fundo Cipres. This was not land owned by my family for generations. Around 1906 my grandfather had purchased three adjacent properties. He had drained the swamps, built irrigations ditches, fenced off pastures and improved the vineyard. My mother inherited the property in 1958. Due to bad administration, it had barely made a profit. There were 14 families living there, some as large as 14 people. The property was expropriated in 1969 at the end of the Frei regime. Our house was taken away, and so was the vineyard and the winery. These should have both been exempted according to the Agrarian Reform Law. The property was not sub-divided but the "asentados" had to live in a community which included two additional families brought from somewhere, obviously of extreme leftist political tendencies. The people hated the CORA (Corporacion de Reforma Agraria) which had placed an interventor or overseer to run the farm. Needles to say, they became poorer than before. In one of my visits to Chile I had a delegation of the workers come to me and ask me to intervene, which o course I could not do. In 1973, the military government took over. Within weeks, the government marked the plots with chalk and gave each "asentado" title to his land and house. The land was sub-divided into 15 small plots.This accounts for a heavy pro-Pinochet vote in the area. Our house was returned in half ruined conditions and the winery and vineyard wer gone. They had stolen the tiles, the roof had collapsed and so had the walls. We were given a reserve of about 500 bare acres, no worker houses, no payment of any kind. Some of the people prospered and by the 1980's you could see flower gardens, pick-up trucks and beautiful horses in some of the plots. Others went to ruin. The merchants of the nearby towns started buying the land and as soon as it was allowed by law. The butchers, the pharmacists, doctors, etc. all bought weekend retreats. To make a long story short: there was a beautiful spot by the river I wanted to buy a couple of years ago. But when I inquired, I was told it was owned by a local doctor who now lived in Paris. Well, so much for agrarian reform".

Ronald Hilton - 1/21/03