The Chilean land reform ( es, Reforma agraria chilena) was a process of land ownership restructuring that occurred from 1962 to 1973 in different phases. For much of the 20th century agriculture was one of the most backward sectors of

Chilean economy The Economy of Chile is a market economy and high-income economy as ranked by the World Bank. The country is considered one of South America's most prosperous nations, leading the region in competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, eco ...

. The land reform was initially supported by Chilean right, centre and left political parties plus the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. After the

1973 Chilean coup d'état The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006. In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...

the ruling right-wing dictatorship initiated a counter-reform that reverted part of it and directed Chilean agriculture into a "

neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

" model.

Pre-reform developments

Chilean intellectuals like Camilo Vial (1804-1882) had placed no particular emphasis on agriculture for the development of Chile while others like

Francisco Encina José Francisco Encina Moriamez (born 18 December 1943) is a Chilean politician who served as President of the Chamber of Deputies and as a member of the Chamber of Deputies, representing District 8 of the Coquimbo Region The Coquimbo ...

(1874-1965) considered Chilean agriculture irrelevant for economic and social development.Naranjo, Eduardo. 1997. ''Den Auktoritära Staten och Ekonomisk Utveckling i Chile'',

University of Lund , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

. Conditions in for early 20th century rural workers was harsh with

Tancredo Pinochet Tancredo Pinochet LeBrun (17 March 1880 – 1957) was a Chilean writer and politician. Biography Son of a remarkable family of teachers, his father was Marcos Fidel Pinochet Espinosa, and his mother, Isabel Le-Brun Reyes, was a remarkable ed ...

denouncing the poor conditions of workers in the

hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...

of president

Juan Luis Sanfuentes Juan Luis Sanfuentes Andonaegui (; 27 December 1858 – 16 July 1930) was President of Chile between 1915 and 1920. Sanfuentes was the son of writer and politician Salvador Sanfuentes Torres and Matilde Andonaegui. Orphaned at an early age and ...

during his presidency (1915-1920). Within a dual sector economic model the 20th century Chilean

has been characterized as a prime example of a primitive and rural component. McBride, a Briton who visited Chile in the 1930s, is reported to have been "astounded" to see haciendas with "agricultural methods that reminds of ancient Egypt, Greece or Palestine." Viñedo Puente Alto

Demands for a land reform appeared in Chile in the early 20th century and while neglected by the Radical governments (1938–1952) that favoured urban

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

, in the early 1960s land reform ideas in Chile received support from both the

and, through the

Alliance for Progress The Alliance for Progress ( es, Alianza para el Progreso, links=no), initiated by U.S. President John F. Kennedy on March 13, 1961, ostensibly aimed to establish economic cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America. Governor Luis Muñoz Marín ...

, from the

. Among Chilean politicians

Eduardo Frei Montalva Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva (; 16 January 1911 – 22 January 1982) was a Chilean political leader. In his long political career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party, senator, President of the ...

expressed his view in 1958 that both minifundia and latifundia were detrimental for Chilean agriculture.Naranjo, Eduardo. 1997. ''Den Auktoritära Staten och Ekonomisk Utveckling i Chile'',

University of Lund , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion University of Lund , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion CORFO The Production Development Corporation (CORFO, from es, Corporación de Fomento de la Producción de Chile) is a Chilean governmental organization that was founded in 1939 by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda to promote economic growth in Chile. ...

to develop investments in dairy plants,

refrigerated The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

sugar refineries A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or beets into white refined sugar. Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it more colour (and impurities) than the white ...

and transport infrastructure.

Land reform

Alessandri and Frei administrations

In 1962, during the government of

Jorge Alessandri Jorge Eduardo Alessandri Rodríguez (; 19 May 1896 – 31 August 1986) was the 27th President of Chile from 1958 to 1964, and was the candidate of the Chilean right in the crucial presidential election of 1970, which he lost to Salvador All ...

, the first land reform law was promulgated. This law allowed for the distribution of

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...

land among peasants. The next land reform law was passed in 1967 under the

Christian Democrat Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

government of

, giving legal status to farmers

syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...

s. A total of 100 thousand peasants became syndicalized in 400 syndicates. This law served also to

expropriate Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

1400 land holdings totaling 3.5 million ha. In the case of the Catholic Church, it began in the 1960s to distribute its lands among

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

s. Besides state reforms in the 1960s, Chilean

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

s and

socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

engaged in the formation of agriculture syndicates through La Frontera and semi-arid Norte Chico. The Christian Democrats did the same around

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

and Aconcagua Valley and in the Central Valley locations of

Curicó Curicó (), meaning "Black Waters" in Mapudungun (originally meaning "Land of Black Water"), is the capital city of the Curicó Province, part of the Maule Region in Chile's central valley. The province lies between the provinces of Colcha ...

, Linares and

Talca Talca () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, Chile, Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the ...

. Villalobos, Sergio; Silva, Osvaldo; Silva, Fernando; Estelle, Patricio (1974). ''Historia De Chile'' (14th ed.). Editorial Universitaria. . p. 788.

Unidad Popular years

The Popular Unity government led by Salvador Allende that came to power in 1970 continued the land reform and, using the legal tools it inherited, attempted to expropriate all Chilean

latifundia A ''latifundium'' (Latin: ''latus'', "spacious" and ''fundus'', "farm, estate") is a very extensive parcel of privately owned land. The latifundia of Roman history were great landed estates specializing in agriculture destined for export: grain, o ...

(usually known as fundos or

estancia An estancia is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias in the southern South American grasslands, the ''pampas'', have historically been estates used to raise livestock, such as cattle or sheep. In Pu ...

s). Around 59% of Chile's agricultural lands were redistributed during the Chilean land reform. The

and inquilinaje institutions that characterized large parts of Chilean agriculture were eliminated by land reform. Economist and Pinochet collaborator

José Piñera José Piñera Echenique (born October 6, 1948) is a Chilean economist, one of the famous Chicago Boys, who served as minister of Labor and Social Security, and of Mining, in the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. He is the architect of Ch ...

claims that a " socialist paradigm" was behind the land reform. He adds that the reform evolved into a general attack against

property rights The right to property, or the right to own property (cf. ownership) is often classified as a human right for natural persons regarding their possessions. A general recognition of a right to private property is found more rarely and is typically ...

and traces the origins of the

Chilean nationalization of copper The nationalization of the Chilean copper industry, commonly described as the Chileanization of copper ( es, Chilenización del cobre) was the process by which the Chilean government acquired control of the major foreign-owned section of the Chile ...

during the Allende years to the Chilean land reform.

Post-coup counter-reform

Following the 1973 coup that ousted Allende and brought Pinochet to power individuals and organizations that had benefited from the land reform were oppressed, notably in the first years of dictatorship.Rytkönen, P. Fruits of Capitalism: Modernization of Chilean Agriculture, 1950-2000. ''Lund Studies in Economic History'', 31, p. 34. In 1974 the military dictatorship begun an agrarian counter-reform.Bellisario, Antonio (2007). ''The Chilean Agrarian Transformation: Agrarian Reform and Capitalist ‘Partial’ Counter-Agrarian Reform, 1964–1980''.

Journal of Agrarian Change The ''Journal of Agrarian Change'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 2001 covering agrarian political economy. The journal publishes historical and contemporary studies of the social relations and dynamics of production, power rela ...

, vol 7, pp. 1-34. Of the lands expropriated during the land reform about 30% were returned to its former owners during the military dictatorship era, an additional 5% was auctioned.

Gabriel Salazar Gabriel Salazar Vergara (born 31 January 1936) is a Chilean historian. He is known in his country for his study of social history and interpretations of social movements, particularly the recent student protests of 2006 and 2011–12. Salazar ...

and Julio Pinto. 2002. ''Historia contemporánea de Chile III. La economía: mercados empresarios y trabajadores.''

LOM Ediciones LOM Ediciones («Lom», means in yaghan language: «sun») is a Chilean press based in Santiago. It was established in 1990. Several Chileans and Latin American writers published in this press, like Pedro Lemebel, Tomas Moulian and Enrique Lihn ...

. p. 153. Reformed lands owned by cooperatives were divided into individual properties. The 16½ years of military dictatorship neoliberal economic policies bought a new generation of capitalists to the rural world. Due to the lack of capital or credit to invest in their lands many

s sold their lands after the land reform was over.Rytkönen, P. Fruits of Capitalism: Modernization of Chilean Agriculture, 1950-2000. ''Lund Studies in Economic History'', 31, p. 43. After the land reform there was a process of reconcentration of land ownership so that by 1997 the land ownership was more concentrated than it had been in 1955. According to scholar Patricio Silva the "

neo-liberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

" agriculture model implemented by the Pinochet dictatorship was only possible thanks to the land reform.Rytkönen, P. Fruits of Capitalism: Modernization of Chilean Agriculture, 1950-2000. ''Lund Studies in Economic History'', 31, p. 5.

References

{{reflist, 2 1960s in Chile History of agriculture in Chile

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...