Complex sentence: In a few districts in the southwest they were able to employ political means, but their principal instruments of self-enrichment were a combination of debt bondage through the transfer of debts and mortgages, and parcel-by-parcel land-grabbing.
Split into simpler sentences: In a few districts in the southwest they were able to employ political means. However, their principal instruments of self-enrichment were a combination of debt bondage through the transfer of debts and mortgages, and parcel-by-parcel land-grabbing.