Individual Corruption

According to Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2010, only under a fifth of Venezuelan households point to the interaction with land authorities as an area where bribes are often demanded. Nevertheless, Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2009 revealed that a significant part of the surveyed households considered bribes to land authorities to obtain favourable decisions a 'very serious problem' and perceived land matters to be distorted by grand and political corruption.

According to a press release in May 2006 by the Human Rights Ombudsman, several peasants were killed and some were wounded between 1999 and 2006 because of their activities in defence of land claims, particularly after the Law on Land and Agrarian Development entered into force in 2001. The law allows the government to take over and redistribute land it identifies as unused. According to the Ombudsman, contract killers hired by private landowners appear to have been responsible for most of the killings. According to a 2007 New York Times article, more than 160 peasants were killed by hired gunmen in Venezuela between 2001 and 2007.

Business Corruption

According to the Bertelsmann Foundation 2010, even though the constitutional guarantees for private property exist on paper, they are not implemented consistently or safeguarded adequately. Similarly, the US Department of State 2011 reports that the government's seizure of land without paying compensation has discouraged investment in several key agricultural subsectors. Companies operating in Venezuela should also note that the government conducts 'inspections' of plants to determine whether they are in violation with Venezuelan law. According to the report, these inspections have also led to expropriation or nationalisation. The government claims to have seized 4.7 million acres of land since 1998.

Political Corruption

According to the US Department of State 2010, in May 2010, the Comptroller General made a statement where it criticised the Ministry of Public Works and Housing for mismanagement of public funds. Specifically, he cited one government investigation involving a project initiated in 2005 to build 12,000 prefabricated houses purchased from Uruguay. The investigation by the Comptroller General's Office found that the project had resulted in the completion of only 11 houses despite the disbursement of USD 71 million - nearly half the project's total. According to the US Department of State 2010, there is no information available about any government investigation or prosecution of those responsible. 

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2011:
- Registering property requires a company to pay a little over 2.2% of the property value on average and to go through 8 administrative procedures, which take an average of 47 days - well below the regional average of over 68 days.

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011:
- Business executives give the protection of property rights, including financial assets, in Venezuela a score of 1.8 on a 7-point scale (1 'very weak' and 7 'very strong').

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- 16% of the households surveyed reported to have paid a bribe to land services in 2009.

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2009:
- 50% of households consider grand or political corruption in land matters to be a 'very serious problem'.

- 40% of respondents consider bribes to land authorities to obtain favourable decisions a 'very serious problem' in Venezuela.

The New York Times: 'Clash of Hope and Fear as Venezuela Seizes Land', 17 May 2007:
- 5% of the population was estimated to possess 80% of the country's private land before a land reform was initiated in 2002.

- The government has seized over 3.4 million acres of land and resettled more than 15,000 families since 2002.