· The United States and European governments, as well as international agencies should support agrarian reform in Bolivia, as they have done in the past. Bolivia should not be forced to turn only to Venezuela for support of a reform process that is critical to future economic and social stability.[i]
Morales Promises Land for the Poor
On May 2 of this year in the lowland city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, announced his government’s plans for agrarian reform to benefit thousands of indigenous people.[ii] Morales presented land titles for 3 million hectares to 60 indigenous communities and groups and promised that Bolivia’s 2.5 million rural poor would receive title to 20 million additional hectares over the next 5 years. This would constitute about 13% of Bolivia’s land being given to about 28% of its people.[iii] About one third of the land to be redistributed was already owned by the state, while another two-thirds would be reclaimed from individuals or companies holding large amounts of land in Bolivia’s eastern lowlands with no legal title or illegally obtained titles. The government assured landowners that property legally obtained and used productively would not be affected. The administration also stated that it would not permit land invasions and squatting settlements. During the past ten years landless farmers and others, frustrated by the lack of government implementation of agrarian reform, increasingly moved into unoccupied lands in rural and outlying urban areas throughout the country. Bolivia’s large national parks and forest reserves would also continue to be protected.