Decree 5,364 and private property: what Article 6 actually authorises
Article 6 authorises the temporary occupation of private buildings and land. What the law requires, what the decree omits, and what an owner can do.
Decree 5,364, which declared a national state of emergency after the 24 June double earthquake, authorises in its Article 6 the temporary occupation of private buildings and plots of land, and the requisition of goods and services. It is a power of the executive, not an order of dispossession: four weeks after publication, no occupation or requisition has been documented under that article.
What is anomalous is what the decree does not say. Temporary occupation already existed in Venezuelan law, tied to four guarantees: a written resolution, prior notice, a defined term, and compensation. Decree 5,364 keeps the figure and reproduces none. This guide separates what Article 6 authorises from what it does not, distinguishes three concepts public conversation has merged into one, and pinpoints where the real risk lies.
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