Radio Mundo Real

Probably, the most shocking thing about the interview Real World Radio held with Miguel Lora in Asuncion is the way in which the State secretary in charge of distributing fiscal lands to peasants managed to “discover” four million hectares (that is 40 thousand square kilometers) which before Evo Morales´ administration were exploited by big landowners, and weren´t officially registered.

Software Google Earth and the agreement signed with Venezuela to use satellite “Simon Bolivar” were useful tools when identifying “no man´s lands” (referred to officially as “fiscal lands”).

Due to the use of technology, these lands have “miraculously” appeared and today there is work being done to distribute them among peasant organizations.

The spectrum of popular struggles in the recent years of Bolivian history deals with access to natural gas, and particularly water, according to Miguel Lora, member of the communication team of the Bolivian Vice-Ministry of Land, who participated in the recent Regional Forum against Agribusiness organized by La Via Campesina, Friends of the Earth International and the World March of Women.

“The unequal distribution of land, as a structural problem, has not been solved yet”, he said.

However, the distribution of land alone does not ensure the viability of peasant agriculture, in a country such as Bolivia, which is twenty times larger than Switzerland in terms of area extension.

Miguel Lora also talked about how landless workers are being helped, for instance through the promotion of the growing of chestnut and by ensuring its trade through its inclusion in the official basic food basket due to its nutritional properties.

Land can only be granted to native peasants, and not individually. “The idea is that white people already have lands”, said Lora.

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