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.| For now. |
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. "As long as the land fulfills its economic and social function, the state will respect it. But if it doesn't fulfill that role, the state will act with the necessary force," Vice President Alvaro Garcia said.
| And the gummint will determine whether the 'land' is 'fulfilling' its function. |
The first step of the proposal involves distributing up to 5 million hectares (12.36 million acres) of state-owned property to indigenous groups and then identify unproductive private land for possible redistribution.
| Unproductive according to the government. |
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. Unease has been strongest in the eastern economic powerhouse of Santa Cruz, where fertile soils are home to vast soy plantations, cattle ranches and migrants who moved from the impoverished Andean highlands in search of a better life.
| And what's more unproductive than a cattle rannch or a soy plantation? |
Despite assurances that productive farmland will not be earmarked for redistribution, some landowners say the definitions are unclear. "What concerns us is that the rules of the game aren't clear," said Mauricio Roca, acting president of the Eastern Agricultural Chamber, which represents landowners.
A recent report by the Roman Catholic Church found a small group of wealthy businessmen owned 90 percent of the country's territory. The rest is shared among Bolivia's 3 million indigenous peasant farmers, who form Morales' support base."That is the reality we have to fix," Garcia said as he detailed the reform proposals. "This will bring justice for communities and for the peasants."
| The thought of using the oil money to buy land from the wealthy and distribute it to the peasants never occurred to you, huh? |