Brazil's Catholic Church slams Lula's agrarian-reform record.
| Autor | Gaudin, Andres |
| Cargo | Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva |
Brazil's Catholic Church released a sharply critical evaluation of the agrarian-reform program during the eight-year "Era Lula," the two terms of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2002-2010), that also taints President Dilma Rousseff, who served on Lula's Cabinet for seven years. Although the bishops' analysis was dated Jan. 4, 2011, just three days after Rousseff took office, it took on greater significance when the new administration announced severe austerity measures that will reduce the 2011 federal budget by almost US$30 billion.
Although the president said on March 2 that, despite the cuts, there will be a nearly 20% increase in resources earmarked for certain social programs--especially Bolsa Familia, a package of aid and subsidies received by 13 million of the nation's poorest families--most analysts and much of the governing Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) believe that reducing public spending threatens two of Rousseff's principal campaign promises: eradicating extreme poverty and strengthening the agrarian-reform program.
"2010 worst of last eight years"
The Comissao Pastoral da Terra (CPT) of the Comissao Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil (CNBB) called 2010--the last year of the Era Lula--"the worst of the last eight years for agrarian reform." The number of families benefitting from the agrarian-reform program was reduced by 44%, and the number of hectares destined for settlement by poor campesino families fell by 72%. "It is not an exaggeration to say that 2010 produced a profound stagnation in the agrarian-reform process. The reality is that President Lula's promise was not fulfilled," said the CPT.
The bishops, who define agrarian reform as "a set of strategic measures to confront land-ownership concentration and promote sustainable and egalitarian development," said that the process "has become a precarious program of settlements." They added that "alternative, democratic, and sustainable development is not possible" without drastically modifying the system of land tenure.
The CPT harshly criticized the former president, saying, "It is unfortunate that in these eight years Lula has relegated his proposals to the periphery of public policies and has consummated a surprising preferential option for agribusiness and the latifundio [system of large landed estates]."
The CPT ends the first part of its analysis saying that, in strategic decisions, Rousseff will have the mission "to carry out the agrarian reform that was...
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