 The official title of the agrarian reform bill was Decree 900 . It expropriated all uncultivated land from landholdings that were larger than 673 acres ( 272 ha ) . If the estates were between 672 acres ( 272 ha ) and 224 acres ( 91 ha ) in size , uncultivated land was expropriated only if less than two @-@ thirds of it was in use . The owners were compensated with government bonds , the value of which was equal to that of the land expropriated . The value of the land itself was the value that the owners had declared in their tax returns in 1952 . The redistribution was organized by local committees that included representatives from the landowners , the laborers , and the government . Of the nearly 350 @,@ 000 private land @-@ holdings , only 1710 were affected by expropriation . The law itself was cast in a moderate capitalist framework ; however , it was implemented with great speed , which resulted in occasional arbitrary land seizures . There was also some violence , directed at land @-@ owners , as well as at peasants that had minor landholdings of their own . 
