Venezuela's government says it will take over all or parts of three privately owned ranches as part of its anti-poverty efforts.
One of those ranches is the nearly 13,000-hectare El Charcote cattle ranch, which is owned by the British-based Vestey Group. Officials say the government will also take over several hectares of land devoted to an animal reserve.
President Hugo Chavez pushed through a law passed in 2001 that allows the government to seize any land that is judged to be idle.
The law is part of Mr. Chavez's plan to redistribute thousands of hectares of land to Venezuela's poor.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.