Morales Pushes Through Radical Land Reform Bill

The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, has secured the passage of a sweeping land reform bill with the help of thousands of peasants who marched on La Paz.

He signed the bill into law at a midnight ceremony on Tuesday, prompting jubilation from his supporters, after overcoming fierce resistance from senators representing large landowners.

The law is intended to reverse centuries of discrimination against the indigenous majority by seizing 77,000 square miles of land deemed unproductive or illegally owned and redistributing it to the poor. "This is the struggle of our ancestors, the struggle for power and territory," he said. "Now the change is in our hands."

It was another victory for Latin America's first indigenous president, who has persuaded oil and gas multinationals to give most of their Bolivian revenues to the state. Mr Morales' land reforms had already passed through the lower house, controlled by his Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party. But they stalled in the senate, where MAS had just 12 out of 27 seats. An opposition boycott prevented the assembly reaching its 14-seat quorum.

Mr Morales threatened to bypass the senate with a presidential decree and the pressure increased when 3,000 peasants marched into the capital to back him. On Tuesday the opposition buckled. A senator from the conservative Podemos party and assistants representing two senators from smaller parties voted with MAS to pass the bill 15-0. Large landowners vowed to resist the redistribution.

Separately, civil society leaders called for a general strike tomorrow to protest at government control of an assembly given the task of drafting a new constitution.