San Vicente cooperative rejects assembly pressure to fast-track land titles

The Cooperative Council of San Vicente voted unanimously on Thursday to reject a proposal from the Tierra Verde Regional Assembly to accelerate the processing of land-title applications. The assembly had requested a thirty-day turnaround for disputed claims, down from the current average of four to six months, citing federal infrastructure investment decisions that depend on clear land ownership records.

Javier Gutiérrez, the council president, told reporters after the vote that speed was not the priority. "If we rush the titles, we rush the disputes into court," he said. "The smallholders who depend on these registrations would end up paying lawyers instead of investing in their farms."

The tension reflects a recurring friction between Meridian's federal planning priorities and Tierra Verde's cooperative structure. The Federal Office for Cooperative Affairs has been slow to process title applications, leaving hundreds of smallholders in legal limbo. The regional assembly now wants the cooperative council to compensate by working faster—but the council argues that accelerating its own review would not solve the federal bottleneck.

The decision sets the stage for a formal complaint to the Federal Interior Ministry, which oversees both the cooperative system and regional land administration.