Farc pushes for land deal to ease rural poverty
Sunday 10 February 2013
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EmailFarc rebels holding peace talks with Colombia's government called on Saturday for the administration to hand over a big amount of land to farmers to address rural poverty.
The guerilla group emerged in the 1960s because of the yearning gap in wealth between peasants and the super-rich owners of huge estates.
Land redistribution is one of the most critical issues on the agenda of peace talks that began in November in a bid to end the 50-year conflict.
A Farc statement at the peace talks in Havana said the government had a duty to "settle its historic debt" by turning over land.
It suggested that over 20 million acres be assigned to peasants to farm individually or in collectives and another 15 million for food production.
These plots could come from abandoned or underproducing farms, or land confiscated from drug traffickers, Farc said.
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