Q&A:
Franz Chavez interviews JUAN DE DIOS FERNANDEZ, head of
land reform programme
January 28, 2009, Inter Press Service
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45574
LA PAZ, Jan 27 (IPS) - Voters in Bolivia, one of the
countries with the highest concentration of land in the
world, decided in Sunday's referendum to limit the size
of large landed estates, or "latifundia", to 5,000
hectares. In
just 100 families own 25 million hectares, while two
million campesinos (peasants) have access to only five
million hectares, according to a report by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
This extreme level of inequality in a country that is
highly polarised between the western highlands, home to
the indigenous majority, and the more ethnically mixed
eastern lowlands, which account for most of the
country's natural gas production, industry,
agribusiness and GDP, makes for an explosive cocktail
when it comes to the government's land reform plan.
In Sunday's referendum, an estimated 60 percent of
voters approved a new constitution rewritten under the
left-wing government of Evo Morales. Simultaneously, 70
percent voted in favour of a 5,000-hectare limit on
privately-owned rural estates. (The other option was
10,000 hectares.)
Under the agrarian reform programme and the new
constitution, the authorities have the right to
determine whether rural property is serving an economic
and social function, or is unproductive and thus
subject to expropriation - with fair compensation - and
redistribution to poor families.
Land reform authorities have verified and legalised
land ownership over more than 30 million hectares, and
have 52 million to go, the secretary general of the
National Agrarian Reform Institute (INRA), Juan de Dios
Fernández, told IPS in this interview.
The mission is not an easy one, as demonstrated by the
clash that occurred on the property owned by a
rancher, Ronald Larsen from the state of
has lived in
hectares in the eastern
When INRA officials attempted to carry out an
inspection of his land in November, Larsen's employees
tried to keep them off the property, even engaging in
skirmishes in which shots were allegedly fired at the
government vehicle.
Analysts say the land question is at the centre of the
country's political confrontation.
Fernandez explained why the government is closely
studying the ownership of the immense ranches in the
hands of private owners.
IPS: What is leading the government to reform the
country's land laws?
JUAN DE DIOS FERNANDEZ: This is a social demand that
has been loudly voiced for the past 50 years but has
never been given a definitive, structural response.
What happened between 1953 and 1996 is that the state
distributed 60 million hectares of land, less than 20
million of which actually went to campesinos and
indigenous communities, while the rest was distributed
to large landholders and agribusiness interests in the
eastern part of the country.
Eighty percent of the productive land was concentrated
in the hands of a small group of landowners and the
rest was worked by a very large group of campesinos and
indigenous communities.
For instance, we have the businessman (Osvaldo)
Monasterios, who owns more than 100,000 hectares, while
there are plots of 24 square metres in the province of
Chuquisaca. How is that situation fixed? Rural farmers
with the least land are the poorest people in the country.
IPS: What are the technical and legal mechanisms
involved in achieving a fair distribution of land?
JDF: By modifying the structure of rural property, by
cleaning up the land register and regularising and
legalising property ownership, identifying public land,
expropriating land that serves no economic or social
function, in the case of medium and large ranchers, and
the distribution of land to landless campesinos.
IPS: Tell me about the new size definition of
"latifundium" (a large landed estate with absentee
ownership and labour often in a state of partial
servitude), under this new system of redistributing land.
JDF: I believe we are carrying out this reform with a
clear vision. In the old constitution, anything over
50,000 hectares was considered a "latifundium",
although it was not clearly defined. Now, by contrast,
by defining a size limit of 5,000 hectares we are
marking a reference point for a specific policy.
This government's policies respect individual,
community- owned and collective property, while
generating a sense of certainty and security in a
scenario where the opposition has been challenging the
process. They have said we are going to take away their
land and distribute it to campesinos from the
highlands, without leaving any land to the agribusiness sector.
IPS: What practical experience and results has INRA obtained?
JDF: In August, landholdings in the
of Pando were inspected, and 98 percent of the land was
claimed as privately owned. But when we completed the
process, only 25 percent was legally recognised as
such, and another 25 percent had been distributed
earlier to campesinos and indigenous people. The other
half was actually publicly owned nature reserves and parks.
IPS: Is there a link between inadequate distribution of
land and a political elite that this government is fighting?
JDF: A large part of the 40 million hectares (that went
to large landholders and agribusiness interests in the
eastern part of the country) was handed out in payment
for political favours. By law no one could receive more
than one plot of land, but there were people who
received two and even three.
IPS: How long do you think it will take to reduce
poverty by means of the redistribution of land?
JDF: We have four more years to complete the process of
clarifying land ownership. Land titles generate a sense
of legal security which, in the case of community-owned
property, allows access to credit, and to participating
in productive processes.
You have to understand the political context in
the Bolivian revolution of 1952, where the structure of
the state was changed by force and new institutions were built.
In that context, land can be seized because there is no
Congress and (the revolutionaries) have the strength
and the power. But in the scenario of a democratic
revolution like the one being carried out by this
government, we can't do that.
A central pillar of a country's institutionality is
guaranteeing legal security. If you have a property
that was acquired either rightfully or wrongly, and
which is larger than 5,000 hectares, I can't take it
from you retroactively. That would be an attack on the
owner and we would be breaking the property rules of this society.
This government is not going to do that. But the most
important issue is this: the new constitution
explicitly states that every two years, we are going to
verify that land fulfils an economic and social
function. Through this process, we will be able to
recover public lands and limit unproductive latifundia.
(END/2009)
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