They say at least 94 farms have been invaded by squatters, some with quasi-legal documents from the government; others with no paperwork. At three farms visited by Reuters, rural workers on the land had no deeds from the state or said they were waiting for one.
At Hato Viejo, farm administrators say peasants have forced them to abandon some pasture land and have starved cattle to death. But peasant cooperative leaders deny they are to blame and counter they have been threatened.
At the nearby La Batalla farm, where employees busily process milk into cheese, three men have taken over a small plot in a clutch of trees. Farmers say appeals to regional authorities that the land is in use have gone unheeded.
For some peasants, though, necessity takes precedence over law. A few yards from a desolate roadway that weaves through Barinas, Jose de la Rosa Lugo has taken over a plot of land near his shack to sow maize.
The leather-skinned 70-year-old appears to have little time for legal squabbles or politics forged in the distant capital.
"These people have so much land and they don't want to let people work," he said. "Everyone has to have a piece."
Seventy-four Cuban literacy experts were to train 100,000 Venezuelan teachers to give classes in reading and writing to 1.5 million Venezuelans -- nearly 9 percent of the population -- who are currently illiterate.
The Cuban participation is opposed by foes of leftist Chavez. They accuse him of ruling like a dictator and trying to replicate Communist-ruled Cuba in Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
In a video conference broadcast from Caracas to schools around the country, the Venezuelan leader praised the literacy program as a major advance in his so-called "revolution" to improve the lives of the country's poor.
"This has nothing to do with indoctrination," he said, dismissing allegations by opponents that the campaign would seek to impart Marxist ideology along with reading and writing skills.
The campaign, providing two hours of classes a day at teaching centers around the country, will be headed by Eliecer Otaiza, a Chavez loyalist and former chief of Venezuela's DISIP security police.
Chavez thanked his friend and political ally, Cuban President Fidel Castro for donating texts, videos and 50,000 television sets to help the Venezuelan literacy drive. The Venezuelan leader briefly visited Havana during the weekend for talks with Castro.
In a growing alliance that has irked the United States, the biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil, several hundred Cuban doctors, sports trainers and farming experts have been working in Venezuela under a bilateral cooperation treaty.
Venezuela also supplies up to 53,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil to Cuba on preferential terms, making the South American nation the Caribbean island's single biggest trading partner.
Chavez, who was first elected in 1998 and survived a coup last year, frequently praises Castro and Cuba but denies that he shares the Cuban leader's Communist convictions. [End]