Today we hear about some 20 plots of land (earlier reports said there more) in the Chacao area of Caracas which were invaded last night by organized Chavistas. By now, the squatters have been removed, the Government claims this was done violently, but it respects property right, despite the fact that it was Chavez that told his followers to look for these unused plots of lands.
All of this has reminded me of a curious phenomenon I have been noticing around Caracas for a while: The presence of cranes in unused plots of land. They arrive, they build a tin house, set up the crane and nothing happens after that.
Asking around, what I determined is that in most cases these cranes are bought or leased simply as protection for property rights. You set up the crane and you can claim your plot of land is being used. Simple introduce a project asking for the permits, dig some dirt and have a crane in the plot of land. Your land is being used, it will not be expropriated and if they ask why it is going slow, you can argue lack of funds, the loan has not come though and survive another year under the revolution.
Another quirky distortion under the Chavez revolution, Thanks God that construction activity is so slow, that there are lots of cranes to go around.
The Devil's Excrement 
January 23, 2011 at 1:16 pm
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Alfonso N. Piñate L., News Watcher. News Watcher said: Using Cranes in Venezuela to Defend Your Propery Rights http://bit.ly/eZizIA #tcot #p2 #news […]
January 23, 2011 at 12:52 pm
“Pretending to build” reminds me of the expression, which I think came from Cuba “we pretend to work, the government pretends to pay us.”
The revolution is all about pretending anyway and always has been so this is even more comical.
January 23, 2011 at 11:21 am
Metodex,
Invasions have become a “job’ for some people in Venezuela
http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2011/01/19/invasiones-tienen-%E2%80%9Clista-de-espera%E2%80%9D/
January 23, 2011 at 9:56 am
I can comfortably say that Venezuela is,right now,Crazy Country,
Really,the government has worked hard to mess with everybody,and i mean,EVERYBODY.
As long as people stop thinking that invading plots of land is the normal thing,they’re screwed.Iguess that was el sueño de Bolivar.
So,if Chavez helps me rob a bank,a mall or just random people,i will vote for him, and support him.Thats how it works.Ethics belong in the garbage in Venezuela. 21st century gibberish
January 23, 2011 at 9:30 am
You would wish it was really defense. This is using the cranes in an ingenious way to outfox a tyrannical government. It’s like burying items that became illegal. Not that I have ever considered it a crime to withhold information or to outright lie to the government, anywhere on Earth, anytime in history. Specially if your property, life, or personal freedom is involved and they want the lion’s share, or all of it.
Of course the Venezuelan government is not an exception; like such organizations all across this world, it just hates it when subjects show that they are way smarter than them and use brains to hold on to their own, rather than submit smiling to robbery and rape. The nerve of them peasants!
They will quickly try some arbitrary action to stem the unintended consequences of their previous arbitrary actions. Let me add that this fun game of infinite possibilities is played all across the world almost without exception, and is what keeps governments happily growing, becoming complicated and onerous for all (and corrupt too). Until collapse of the host, that is.
What remains to be seen in the case of the Venezuelan government, being a particularly violent case of the above is whether they will care to make it look civilized or not. Will it be some kind of Habilitante decree or will they just send the
evil clownsArmy and “pueblo organizado” to take down the cranes?January 23, 2011 at 9:26 am
There’s a similar practice that goes on where I live in South Florida:
If there’s an unused piece of land, the owner puts a wire fence around it and sticks a few cows in there, so the land can be deemed “agricultural” and he pays drastically lower property taxes as opposed to commercial and residential.
I guess when they sell the land, they eat the cows!
January 23, 2011 at 8:26 am
Well I guess is not ilegal…but just wait. I see the next Alo Presidente. Expropiese all companies that rent cranes! El pueblo los necesita! (i.e. Chavez=pueblo).
January 23, 2011 at 5:43 am
Lim have you considered combing two of your ideas, let kids ride in the suspended car, rotate the crane and induce a little vertical motion. Instant thrill ride, the Amazing Barf Mobile.
January 23, 2011 at 5:23 am
Lim: If you actually have an good idea or just start making a profit you will be expropiated… And now the crane and the land belongs to the govn – including all the cups and polars.
January 23, 2011 at 2:55 am
You could use the crane to park your car safely in the air. Or to hang your clothes to dry (especially if there is another crane next to yours). You could even use it to take the local kids for a ride up into the sky to look at the proletarians in paradise down below. With a special permit you could improve your earnings by selling Polar – in plastic cups, of course. The possibilities are endless.
January 22, 2011 at 11:54 pm
Isn’t that how the robolution builds houses? Come in and move some dirt around and then move on to the next house.
January 22, 2011 at 11:15 pm
or, not until Hugo regulates “pretending”. And being that the greatest pretenders in Venezuela currently are the governing chavistas, that’s not going to happen.
The crane owners are being paid for the use of the crane, the property owners are now protected, and Hugo can’t find a crane to pretend he’s actually building anything either. What’s not to like? I count 3 wins.
January 22, 2011 at 8:52 pm
“Latin America makes the rest of the world look normal”
Amen, brother!
January 22, 2011 at 8:27 pm
latin america makes the rest of the world look normal
January 22, 2011 at 8:04 pm
moctavio
but there is no law that says you can not have an unused plot of land.
Don’t hold your breath.
January 22, 2011 at 7:34 pm
They are doing nothing that is illegal, they are pretending to be building, so taht their land is not illegally taken over, but there is no law that says you can not have an unused plot of land.
January 22, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Parking a crane on your property isn’t necessarily illegal is it?
January 22, 2011 at 7:07 pm
OMG! they are avoiding an ilegal act with another ilegal act…you have to admire the Venezuelan’s creativity!
January 22, 2011 at 6:08 pm
I do not know MO…, Are you exposure possible targets to robolotion?