The World - News from July 12, 1987

Millionaire Brazilian coffee producers and humble vegetable growers joined forces to protest a land reform proposal that would confiscate property for landless peasants. An estimated 10,000 farmers rode horses and drove tractors through the streets of the capital, Brasilia, to pressure legislators into watering down the proposed law, part of a new constitution now being debated. Officials estimate that 7 million Brazilian families could benefit from the plan to distribute uncultivated acreage to landless peasants. The march’s organizer, the Democratic Rural Union, which represents about 150,000 farmers, has said it doesn’t oppose land reform but wants to make sure that private land is not confiscated arbitrarily.