Bolivia unveils plan to distribute land to poor

[Judi Lynn]

Wed 17 May 2006

Bolivia unveils plan to distribute land to poor
By Carlos Quiroga

LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivia's leftist government on Tuesday outlined its plan to redistribute idle land to poor peasants, ruling out mass expropriations and proposing instead the distribution of state-owned property.

The announcement came two weeks after President Evo Morales nationalised the country's energy industry, surprising neighbouring states and foreign oil companies that had expected to be consulted before Bolivia took action.

Land reform is another pillar of Morales' policy to increase the state's role in managing natural resources, but the government sought to soothe landowners' fears of arbitrary expropriations by ruling out seizures of productive lands.
(snip)

He urged Bolivians to discuss the proposal and said rumours about expropriations or government-backed squatting stemmed from blackmail by those opposed to the "agrarian revolution."
(snip)

While the sweeping May 1 energy nationalisation has been relatively noncontroversial within Bolivia, land reform has exposed the deep divisions between its indigenous people and the richer European-descended elite.
(snip/...)

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=734002006

[Missy M]

1. It's amazing that a.....

"small group of wealthy businessmen own 90% of the country's territory". They are of course opposing this new plan to redistribute idle land to poor peasants. They wealthy businessmen won't be happy until they own 100% of the land.

[Billy Burnett]

2. That is pretty much like Cuba before the revolution.

Batista (and the CIA), United Fruit Co, Bacardi, and more, had torture and death squads at work on notable political activists who espoused redistribution of farm land. Eventually, the Cuban people could take no more.

[Missy M]

3. Yet in this country our government would prefer Cuba be back...

to the days of Batista. It seems when people become wealthy they lose all concept of sharing.

[sofa king]

19. A little bit of zero tolerance could change that fast.

Remember how that worked for a little while here in the United States? If Gilligan smokes a joint on your yacht and the feds find the roach, it's America's boat now, praise Jesus and the War on Drugs.

Well, Bolivia's main cash-crop is coca, because Colombian refiners pay several times more for coca leaves than any other plant which can be grown in Bolivia. And if 90% of the land is owned by a handful of people, that suggests that most of the coca is being grown on the wealthy people's land.

So, Evo, why don't you turn the guns around on your former masters and give them a good dose of zero tolerance? You'll get more land to redistribute and the oligarchs-in-waiting will have an incentive to shift production to things like...food. To get the food to market, the rich guys are suddenly going to want (and be willing to pay for) paved roads, which will provide some much needed infrastructure. And once a proper infrastructure is in place, an economy based on something other than drugs has a chance to grow and employ people to do things other than grow drugs on land they don't own.

[zann725]

4. How humane...so democratic (with a little "d"). What good will & karma

such ideas could spread. People able to grow their own food, and not be enslaved to landowners.

Isn't ironic...in a country WITHOUT "our Freedom."

[crikkett]

5. k & r!

[One Honest Guy]

6. Poor white Euro minorities.

What are they going to do now? Move back to Europe, back to their multi-million dollar villas on the French riviera and take a serious hit in the wallet? Well, yeah I guess.

"richer European-descended elite"... Not so elite anymore, are they?

[Acadia Blue]

7. I hope they succeed. The oligarchical landowners are responsible

for the dire poverty. They pay them pennies a day and get rich off their slave labor. The rich landowners are aristocrats just as the feudal lords in the 1300's in Europe were. A french revolution is what is needed there or a FDR type president willing to take on the oligarchical pigs.

[Bridget Burke]

10. Let's not wish a "French revolution" on Bolivia....

After all, that led to the Terror & ended with Napoleon.

The Bolivians seem to be making progress on their own.

[johnhannahthree]

8. the most important development

The most important development from Bolivia to Venezuela to Argentina is that Latin American governments and their people are no longer afraid of the US.

[ebayfool]

11. Welcome to DU!

Amazes me that outsiders really expected they should be consulted! The oil companies have been spoiled in the US - they are so used to having their thumb on the scale here, that they forget that other countries just might think of their population first.

How novel! Citizens first, ahead of foreign corporations ... even better - ahead of homegrown corporations! Maybe we should give that a try here!




"The announcement came two weeks after President Evo Morales nationalised the country's energy industry, surprising neighbouring states and foreign oil companies that had expected to be consulted before Bolivia took action."

[anoraksia53]

9. its encouraging to see him taking action on this

and on nationalization of the gas companies so soon after being put in office........it is inspiring doncha think?

[meganmonkey]

12. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!

Oh, man. Could the US of A learn something from these folks? I hope so. Of course the people here are so far removed from the land, from thei8r food, from actual production of just about anything that they wouldn't know what to do with land. And that could very well prove to be our downfall...

I don't care how many rich capitalists whine about this - They can use their money to dry their eyes. PEOPLE are more important than money is.

SOLIDARITY!

[manic expression]

13. That is great, that is justice

The people will actually have what they need and deserve. Instead of denying people something so basic and right, there will be parity and justice.

Si se puede! Hasta la victoria siempre!

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

14. People can be disenfranchised...

...and they can be reenfranchised. We need some of that right here in the Korporate Republik of Amerika.

[mom cat]

15. Smart tactic. This should move things in the direction ao agrarian

reforn while keeping the country stable.

[eleny]

16. And he was democratically elected

Hee!

[Robb]

17. I'm split on this

The idea is nice, but once public land falls into private hands, it's there forever. It's a one-shot resource for government.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Correction: Bolivia-Handing-Out-Land Story

Correction: Bolivia-Handing-Out-Land Story

By Associated Press

May 22, 2006, 2:00 PM EDT

ASUBI, Bolivia -- In a May 21 story about Bolivian land reform, The Associated Press erroneously reported the amount of farmland being redistributed and the country's size. The plots total nearly 8 percent of Bolivia, not 10 percent. Bolivia is nearly eight times bigger than New York state, not the same size.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-bolivia-handing-out-land-corrective,0,6112468.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the story they had to amend:

Sunday, May 21, 2006 · Last updated 9:45 a.m. PT

Bolivia's new president vows land reform

By FIONA SMITH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

ASUBI, Bolivia -- Victor Valverde has farmed other people's land since he was 8. Now 49, he dreams of having just enough of his own to feed his family.

Valverde might get it under an ambitious effort proposed by President Evo Morales, who says he will make good on more than 50 years of land reform promises by successive Bolivian leaders.

By month's end, his government hopes to start redistributing as much as 54,000 square miles of unfarmed land to the poor. The plots, many of them unused state land and most in the fertile eastern lowlands, add up to about 10 percent of this nation that is the size of New York state.

Arable land that isn't being used productively has been subject to redistribution for more than a decade under Bolivian law. But relatively few poor have benefited, largely because the inefficient justice system hasn't been able to untangle title disputes often muddied by corrupt deals made by Bolivian dictators.
(snip/...)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Bolivia_Handing_Out_Land.html