[Marxism] Bolivian agribusiness organizes "self-defense" against Morales, masses

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bolivian farmers plan 'self-defense' units By CARLOS VALDEZ, Associated
Press Writer
Wed May 31, 6:02 PM ET



Bolivia's largest agribusiness group said Wednesday it would form
"self-defense" units to defend land it fears the country's new leftist
government will confiscate to give to the poor.

The National Farming Confederation said in a statement that it rejected
President Evo Morales' land reform policy and said he "was trying to
destroy the country's productive apparatus."

The Morales administration rejected the idea.

"The government cannot accept their announcement because these groups
are illegal and border on being criminal," said Alfredo Rada, a deputy
minister in charge of coordinating between the government and the
country's civil organizations.

The group did not detail what they meant by "self-defense" groups, but
in other parts of Latin America, the term has been used to describe
armed citizens groups.

In a separate statement Wednesday, Morales' government said it would
move forward with its plan to redistribute more than 77,000 square miles
of land over the next five years. It reiterated that it would only
confiscate land that was not being farmed, was obtained illegally or was
being used for speculation.

The figure in Wednesday's statement was larger than the 54,000 square
miles officials had used earlier.

The National Farming Federation blamed the government for creating a
climate of uncertainty that could unleash confrontations between
Bolivians.

Its members refused to attend a meeting called by the government last
week to discuss the issue, saying the Morales administration was
allowing illegal land invasions in the eastern province of Santa Cruz,
where much of the land targeted for redistribution is located.

The government land redistribution plan is heightening tension that has
long existed between the prosperous residents of Bolivia's agricultural
lowlands and the poorer, mostly Indian people of the western high
plains.

Much of the land targeted for distribution is unused state land located
in the fertile eastern lowlands.

Arable land that isn't being farmed 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.

Land reform efforts that began 10 years ago have been slow and Morales
wants to speed up the process by giving out plots of less than 124 acres
and making it easier to obtain titles.

Just under 90 percent of Bolivia's productive land is worked by only
50,000 families, leaving millions of Bolivians with little or no land,
according to the government.




Copyright C 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The
information contained in the AP News report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten


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