Brasília, May 18, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Caravans of rural workers from all over Brazil arrived in Brasília today for the Clamor of the Land demonstration. They have come to pressure the government to meet the 190 demands on their list, ranging from emergency situations to structural problems. They are also offering suggestions to expedite agrarian reform in the country.

The priorities on the extensive negotiating agenda are: the disbursement of US$ 4.1 million (R$ 13 million) for investments and operating expenses in the 2004/2005 Harvest Plan; approval of the Rural Social Security bill; Policies to Combat Rural Violence; and the settlement of 115 thousand families through the Agrarian Reform program by 2006. The National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (Contag) also proposes that the government create a program to supervise the handling and use of pesticides. The union movement is also urging a national campaign to orient rural workers on how to prevent contamination.

The rural workers are also demanding that the National Congress approve a US$ 549 million (R$ 1.7 billion) budgetary supplement for Agrarian Reform, as announced by the government in the beginning of April. For the president of the Contag, Manoel Santos, the agenda "is a kind of social development project for the countryside that the government must carry out." He has already reconfirmed the President's support, but he recalls that the Contag will not neglect its own mission. "The government was made to govern, and the union movement, to struggle. And we shall not fail to do this."

Translator: David Silberstein