The distribution of public land has, at one time or another, been official government policy in almost every Amazonian jurisdiction. Some epochs and jurisdictions favoured small holdings over large estates and vice versa, but the entire process, and the system it spawned, is characterized by inefficiency, political patronage, class privilege and corruption. Across the region, hundreds of thousands of small family farmers have been waiting for years to obtain documents validating their land claims. Those fortunate to have obtained certified titles often pay a modest bribe to move their documents along a bureaucratic chain of requirements, formularies, taxes, charges, validations, surveys, etc. A certified title materially impacts the price of real estate, and people are willing to pay speed money, particularly if there is a document that is lacking or does not conform to a specific regulatory ruling. Their claim may be wholly legitimate, but without the coima (also known as ‘propina’), the document can languish for weeks, months or even years. These types of mundane transactions are seldom reported in the press, much less to judicial authorities. More flagrant abuses of the land tenure system are perpetuated by land grabbers who manufacture property deeds using several well-known fraudulent schemes. These professional thieves sell the newly minted landholding to third parties, who are fully cognizant they are purchasing a misbegotten asset. The land grabber, the functionary and the buyer are all engaged in a type of ‘grand theft’, because the amount of money is substantial, including not only a bribe,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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