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Argentina to limit foreign land purchases to 25% of provincial area
🇦🇷 Argentina /Elections & Politics

Argentina to limit foreign land purchases to 25% of provincial area

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • The Argentine government has agreed to limit foreign land purchases to 25% of a province's surface area.
  • The ruling party aims to pass the bill this week, emphasizing that foreign states cannot buy rural land.
  • The government criticizes a 2011 law, arguing it benefited "friends of power" and hindered investment.

Argentina's government has agreed to cap foreign land purchases at 25% of a province's surface area, a concession to allied blocs amid pressure over the controversial chapter of a private property bill.

We are going to make it very clear what limits we have set. Foreign states cannot buy a square meter of rural land in Argentina.

— Patricia BullrichSenator Patricia Bullrich clarifying the new limits on foreign land ownership.

Senator Patricia Bullrich, head of the ruling party's bloc in the Senate, confirmed the changes, stating that foreign states cannot acquire rural land in Argentina. She aims to pass the initiative this Thursday, when the session resumes after a recess. Bullrich sought to counter objections from Kirchnerism and social groups, who claim the bill infringes on national sovereignty.

Bullrich highlighted that the proposed text would prevent situations like the one in Neuquén, where the previous administration ceded land for a Chinese space base. "The only time Argentina handed over sovereignty to a foreign government was to the Chinese government for the installation of a space base, 200 hectares ceded for 50 years," she insisted, contrasting it with the current government's need for broad consensus to pass legislation.

The only time Argentina handed over sovereignty to a foreign government was to the Chinese government for the installation of a space base, 200 hectares ceded for 50 years.

— Patricia BullrichSenator Bullrich referencing a past land deal with China to criticize previous administrations.

The senator also criticized the current law, enacted in December 2011 under Cristina Kirchner's presidency, which limits foreign land purchases to 15% of national, provincial, and departmental surface area. Bullrich alleged this law "had an objective, which was to make their friends landowners." She claimed that under a "protectionist marketing," the "friends of power" engaged in business, citing Lázaro Báez, who allegedly went from being a bank employee to owning 415,000 hectares in Santa Cruz after the Kirchners took office.

had an objective, which was to make their friends landowners. ... under a marketing apparently protectionist they did business the friends of power.

— Patricia BullrichSenator Bullrich criticizing the 2011 land law.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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