A U.S. think tank says foreign investment in Uruguay, mainly in the agricultural sector, has helped unleash a land-acquisition binge that has seen the sale of 39% of the national territory during 2000-09 and land-price increases of 800% over the past decade. “It remains to be seen if Uruguay will maintain its sovereignty and resist large-scale land acquisitions as its land prices continue to soar,” said a “fact sheet” published last month by the California-based Oakland Institute. The institute, faulting Uruguay for following World Bank economic-policy prescriptions, cites estimates that foreign corporations now own over 1.8 million hectares of Uruguayan land, with Argentine nationals owning nearly all of the 500,000 hectares in Uruguay dedicated to soy cultivation. It goes on... [Log in to read more]