Officials in Venezuela have gone into a cattle farm owned by a British company and may expropriate it as part of the government's land reform plans.
They were accompanied on to the 13,000 hectare (32,000 acre) El Charcote farm in the western Cojedes state by police.
The government wants to seize land deemed idle or illegally held to give to the country's poor farmers.
British firm Vestey says the farm is rightfully its, and squatters have prevented it being fully productive.
The dispute over the farm is seen as a test case for President Hugo Chavez's ambitious land reform plans, says the BBC's Jannat Jalil.
"We didn't come to expropriate, but to do justice," said Cojedes state governor Jhonny Yanez Rangel, a Chavez ally.
Officials will now evaluate whether the ranch lands are being put to proper use, and whether the owner has rightful claim to the farm.
Census
Vestey says the farm was profitable until hundreds of squatters moved in when President Chavez signed the land reform law four years ago.
British embassy official Carl Phawder was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying diplomats were in close contact with the company.
"We believe that the issue should be solved within domestic and international laws," he said.
The law, passed four years ago, allows expropriation of land that is not being used productively, or where ownership cannot be proved.
It follows a census seven years ago that showed 60% of Venezuela's farmland was owned by less than 1% of the population.
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