Recordings put pressure on allies of Brazil's acting leader

[L. Coyote]

6. Brazil Coup Government to Legalize Foreign Land Grabbing

Brazil Coup Government to Legalize Foreign Land Grabbing

The expected lifting of foreign land ownership will be a windfall for the timber, soy and sugar industries -- and a nightmare for campesinos.

Brazil's government plans to lift current limits on foreign ownership of agricultural land, Secretary of Investment Moreira Franco, the person behind privatizations for the new administration, announced Wednesday.

"This proposal represents the interests of an alliance between multinational agribusiness corporations, foreign pension funds and the Brazilian rural oligarchy," Maria Luisa Mendonça, director of Brazil's Network for Social Justice and Human Rights, told teleSUR. "It will increase the enormous land concentration in the country and its dependency on agricultural commodities based on mono-cropping for export."

Franco called the restriction on sales of agricultural land to foreign individuals and companies "nonsense" and said Senate-imposed interim President Michel Temer will reconsider the issue. "The government will discuss the issue, see how it can solve this. It is something completely unreasonable," added Franco.

......... The restriction on foreign ownership was adopted in 2010 by former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. ......