Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered Minister of Agriculture and Lands (MAT) Juan Carlos Loyo to seize at once the plots of lands in the states of Portuguesa and Lara, north-western Venezuela, property of Smurfit Kappa de Venezuela, a subsidiary of packaging company Smurfit Kappa Group."We must get every inch of Portuguesa's lands under Smurfit control. How long will they keep damaging Portuguesa lands? Such land is not for logging purposes. They have dried up aquifers, water streams and springs (...) We must act faster. It is an order," Chavez said from Portuguesa during a telephone conversation broadcasted by state-run TV network VTV.
According to MAT, Smurfit, owns 12 hectares of ploughland.