JURIST - Paper Chase: Bolivia president begins redistributing land under new constitution

[JURIST] Bolivian President Evo Morales [official website; BBC profile], empowered by his country's new constitution [PDF text, in Spanish], began redistributing land to indigenous farmers Saturday. In a ceremony on part of the land seized by the government from large owners, Morales turned over about 94,000 acres to Guarani Indians. Morales criticized the treatment of workers on large farms and asked wealthy landowners to embrace equality by voluntarily giving up some of their holdings. The original landowners can appeal the redistribution to the National Agrarian Tribunal [official website].

Bolivia's new constitution went into effect [JURIST report] in February, after being approved [JURIST report] by national referendum in January. The constitution limits single farms to 12,400 acres places economic and social requirements on farms. In October 2008, the Bolivian National Congress ratified [JURIST report] the proposed reforms after Morales agreed not to run for re-election in 2014.

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