London, July 14, 2003 (BBC Brazil, Agência Brasil - ABr) - The process of agrarian reform in Brazil has to occur at the "right moment," not at the pace desired by its biggest enthusiasts or by its biggest critics. This was the position taken, yesterday (13) by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in an exclusive interview with the BBC Brazil, in London, in which he criticized what he called "prejudice" against the landless

"We will carry out agrarian reform with neither the speed that the landless want, nor the slowness that opponents of agrarian reform desire," Lula affirmed. "We will do it at the right moment." The President answered some of the questions sent by visitors to the BBC Brazil site and other BBC sites. Nearly 5,000 questions were sent to the interview.

CONTROVERSY OVER THE CAP

Viewer Carlos Palmero, from Campo Grande (MS), wanted to know why Lula put on the cap given to him by the MST (Landless Rural Workers Movement), when he received an MST delegation in Brasília.

"Over the past 20 years, I must have taken a hundred pictures in which I appear using the cap of the landless workers, and another 50 using the cap of the CUT (Central Workers Union)," the President commented. "It is a question of cordiality to put on a cap or a tee shirt," affirmed Lula, who criticized the way the landless movement is viewed in Brazil. I sincerely did not expect the prejudice against the landless to reach the proportions it has."

Lula declared that those who are fighting for land in Brazil understand the limitations of the federal government in this area. "The landless are aware that agrarian reform has to be conducted within the limitations of the State's investment resources."

SITUATION OF SETTLEMENT OCCUPANTS

The President said that the new settlements cannot repeat the previous model, which, in his view, permitted settlement occupants to live in poverty today. "It is not enough to settle people. Today, almost 80% of settlement occupants live in poverty conditions," he affirmed.

"We will try to settle people, giving the settlements a new character. That is, we shall have to construct so-called agrovilles, in order to have communities with hospitals, schools, etc."

Lula asserted that radicalism on the part of the landless movement arises among those who have still not been settled and have been waiting for an opportunity for many years. "There are people who have been camped out for six and half years, four and a half years. And these people, obviously, have become radical. I think we have to assume the responsibility of settling them."

This information was provided by the BBC Brazil. (DAS)