The Superior Civil Court of Apure restored the farm to the producer evicted by Judge Bagnura González

The Superior Civil Court of Apure restored to agricultural producer Franklin del Carmen Pulido Castillo the legitimate possession and exclusive control of the Mi Don farm, located in the El Cántaro sector, Candelaria peasant settlement, Cunaviche parish, Pedro Camejo municipality (Apure). Pulido Castillo had been evicted from this rural property on July 28 by order of lawyer Bagnura Lorena González D' Elía, presiding judge of the Apure Civil Circuit.

Upon finding himself homeless, Pulido Castillo filed a writ of amparo (a constitutional remedy) with the Superior Civil Court of Apure, where they opened a case file numbered 5068-26. In the document containing the amparo appeal, Pulido Castillo explained that he has been in possession of the aforementioned property for more than 16 years, carrying out various activities that contribute to the agro-food sovereignty of Venezuela.

This activity was interrupted by the decision of the First Civil, Commercial, Transit and Banking Court of the Judicial District of the State of Apure, in charge of Bagnura Lorena González D' Elía, who wrote a sentence that opened the doors for the eviction of Pulido Castillo, his wife and two children.

That order from Judge González D'Elía was carried out on July 28 by Judge Daniel Alejandro Rosales, who was temporarily in charge of the Second Municipal Court of Ordinary Jurisdiction and Enforcement of Measures of the Pedro Camejo Municipality, Apure. Pulido Castillo, in his writ of amparo, categorized this action as an arbitrary act violating "public order norms" because Judge González D'Elía conducted judicial proceedings "outside her jurisdiction, due to the subject matter (agrarian), thereby violating the right to defense, due process, effective judicial protection, and the right to housing."

To respond to such complaints, the Superior Civil Court of Apure, headed by Milvida Carbellis Utrera Rojas, published a ruling on August 10. This ruling reflects the analysis carried out by Judge Utrera Rojas, who found that the measure that opened the door to the eviction of Pulido Castillo dates back to August 9, 2023. However, its execution four years later, on July 28, when it had already legally expired, was revived to evict the agricultural producer and his family, which "constitutes a constitutionally intolerable act of force, in which said action entailed a forced eviction, violating human dignity, depriving access to the main dwelling on the farm, with his belongings being retained and forcing the family to sleep in conditions of extreme precariousness… represents a current, continuous and harmful constitutional violation that merits the drastic and urgent protection of this court without procedural delays."

The Superior Civil Court of Apure also noted that an agricultural production activity is carried out on the Mi Don farm, supported by an Agrarian Charter issued by the National Land Institute; ''therefore, the physical eviction carried out interrupts the productive continuity of the property, directly affecting the nation's food security.''

In this regard, the Superior Civil Court of Apure reprimanded Judge Bagnura Lorena González D'Elía for ordering the execution of measures from the civil jurisdiction "without taking into account the materially agricultural activity." The court stated that Judge González D'Elía's actions "constituted a flagrant and incontrovertible violation of the right to a natural judge, since, given this situation, the special agrarian jurisdiction should have been responsible, because any dispute relating to possession, improvements, and agricultural activity on the rural property 'Fundo Mi Don' must be heard and resolved exclusively before the specialized agrarian courts."

Based on these considerations, the aforementioned court granted the injunction filed by Franklin del Carmen Pulido Castillo and, consequently, nullified the eviction from the Mi Don property. Therefore, the Superior Civil Court of Apure ordered the immediate restitution of said rural property to Pulido Castillo and his family "in legitimate possession, use, enjoyment, and exclusive control."

Finally, since Pulido Castillo filed the amparo action to protect constitutional rights over a property with agricultural potential, the Superior Civil Court of Apure declined jurisdiction over any subsequent actions that might be filed, transferring it to the Superior Agrarian Court of Apure. In response, Judge Utrera Rojas officially forwarded the case file to the Superior Agrarian Court to ensure "effective judicial protection and prevent the dismissal of the case or the parties' lack of legal recourse."