In the municipality of Yacuiba, Bolivia, 25 families own 80% of the cultivatable land while 3,000 families are considered landless in the same municipality. For some this disparity is no reason for alarm as Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. To others, however, these facts have given birth to social activist movements.
An article published by Americas.org this month pointed to the relatively recent birth in Bolivia of the agrarian reform group Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST). Established almost two years ago, the MST—following the model of its Brazilian counterpart—has encouraged the indigenous peoples and the landless campesinos to fight for their rights to agriculturally fallow lands. Throughout its existence, the MST struggle has caught the attention of the international community, especially after the dramatic episodes caused by the Bolivian latifundistas or big landholders both this year and last year.
Despite (landless) governmental policies regarding these lands, the landless movement has witnessed the passing of contradictory legislative measures favoring export farming and free-market policies. Now, according to the Bolivian Documentation and Information Center—an NGO based in Cochabamba, Bolivia—4.5% of the nation’s landowners own some 70% of its agricultural acreage. 100,000 landless people there live in extreme poverty: Gran Chaco, a low altitude plain, is estimated to be the poorest region in South America. This is where landless campesinos, organized into eight hamlets, have established their own dwelling in huts since 2000, tired of waiting for unfulfilled promises from the government. Since that time, landless indigenous peoples and campesinos have organized occupations of underused plots throughout the country, reaching as far as the provinces of La Paz, Potosi, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba.
In addition to provoking the government, the landless movement has engendered the anger of the latifundistas, or big landholders, such as the Gran Chaco Stockbreeders Association (Asaogachaco)—which, according to sources, has pressed for violence against the landless. Violent incidents sparked by landowners and paramilitary groups have so far resulted in nine deaths, one of which included the 13 year-old Vidal Vargas Palacio. Vidal who was fatally wounded by a bullet on November 9, 2001 while walking to nearby fields in order to prepare for the corn planting in Pananti, a settlement area some 35 km from Yacuiba.
On November 20, 2001 the government promised to grant the landless people titles to some 21,000 acres, including Pananti. This year, however, Pananti fielded no harvest whatsoever as continued para-military attacks on the landless settlers disrupted corn planting.
