Brazil’s Leader Pledges Rapid Reform
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, “still shocked” by last week’s massacre of 19 landless farmers, said Tuesday that measures to speed up land reform and punish human rights abuses will change the nation.
Last Wednesday, police fired on farmers demanding land who blocked a highway near Maraba, about 700 miles north of Brasilia.
Officials said police “lost control” and opened fire with machine guns. Tests showed many of the dead were killed with execution-style shots to the heads and necks.
Cardoso said steps have been taken to speed passage of several bills, including one to fix timetables for transferring land from private ownership to landless families.
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