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Smurfit Kappa Land Seized by Chavez

March 11, 2009 By: Packaging online staff Box Biz


Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has seized land belonging to Irish packaging giant tycoon Michael Smurfit, Telegraph.co.uk reports. His government announced it had taken control of 3,700 acres owned by the Dublin-based Smurfit Kappa Group. The socialist leader says he was making the move because the land was being used to grow eucalyptus, a component in corrugated containers, instead of food, which violates Venezuelan law.
“We are going to use all the eucalyptus wood sensibly and harvest other things there: beans, corn, sorghum, cassava, and yam,” he said on state TV. Chavez launched a nationwide land reform after taking office in 1999. Venezuela’s Nationality Assembly passed a law two years later giving the state power to seize underused farmland.
Michael Smurfit is estimated to be worth more than $567 million and has been honored by the government of Venezuela for his charitable work.
 
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