The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 70/No. 24           July 3, 2006  
 
 
Bolivian gov’t announces land reform
(front page)
 
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS  
Bolivian president Evo Morales announced in early June a sweeping agrarian reform plan, issuing titles for some 3 million hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres) of state land to landless peasants. The move comes in response to a rise in peasant occupations of unused farmlands. A month earlier the Bolivian government announced the state would take majority control of the country’s oil and natural gas industry.

Addressing thousands of Indian peasants gathered June 3 to receive land titles in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, Morales said, “Getting back the land means we’re getting back all the natural resources, we’re nationalizing all the natural resources.” The Bolivian president also said that about 20 million hectares of public land—about twice the size of Portugal—would be distributed to landless peasants over the next five years. CNN reported that the government intends to confiscate “only land that was not being tilled, land that was obtained illegally, or land used for speculation.”

“The landowners, the foreign companies, the political parties that have dominated this country took our land from us and that’s why we live in misery,” said Wilson Chacaray, a Guarani Indian leader at the ceremony, according to the Scotsman.

Bolivia is one of the least developed countries in Latin America. The National Institute of Statistics reports that some 63 percent its 9.2 million inhabitants live below the government’s official poverty level. In rural areas the figure is closer to 80 percent.

According to a recent report by the Roman Catholic Church, almost 90 percent of Bolivia’s productive land is owned by 50,000 families, while millions of peasants have little or no access to land. A study by the United Nations Development Program said that in the agricultural lowlands encompassing the departments of Pando, Beni, Santa Cruz, and Chuquisaca, 100 families own 25 million hectares, while 2 million families of small farmers together have access to just 5 million hectares.

In response to Morales’s announcement, the National Farming Confederation, representing some of the country’s largest landholders, announced they would form “self-defense” squads.

“The government is not stopping land occupations, and faced with this situation the agribusiness community has decided to take actions on our own,” José Cespedes, president of the Eastern Agricultural Chamber, told the media.

Meanwhile, the campaign to teach Bolivia’s workers and peasants to read and write is advancing. The program began in March with assistance from the Cuban government, which is providing volunteer trainers, reading materials, and 30,000 television sets.

A ceremony held in the city of Cochabamba June 6 celebrated the first 1,000 graduates from the Yo sí puedo (Yes, I can) literacy program. So far some 5,000 training centers have been set up nationwide. Bolivia’s education minister, Felix Patzi, said the goal is to teach some 1.2 million people over the age of 15 to read and write and to be able to declare the entire country free of illiteracy by the end of 2008.

“Already the program has successfully taught 100,000 Bolivians to read and write,” Prensa Latina reported May 31. “The second stage proposes to benefit another 200,000 citizens, while the third and fourth stages will have a bilingual character and will be addressed to the indigenous communities.”

At the same time, more than 700 Cuban doctors are providing free medical care to Bolivians in 188 cities and towns throughout the country. Cuba’s ambassador to Bolivia, Rafael Dausa, told Prensa Latina that the Cuban medical brigade has already treated 570,000 patients and saved more than 1,000 lives in just three months.

Meanwhile, some 400 Bolivian doctors conducted a one-day strike June 1 to oppose the presence of Cuban doctors. “We think the health of the Bolivian people should be managed by Bolivians,” Fernando Arandia, president of the Bolivian Medical College, told Reuters.
 
 
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