[10/10/06] MST Attends Agrarian Reform Conference in Guatemala. First Such Conference since Overthrow of Arbenz in '54

Guatemala Confers for Agrarian Reform

Guatemala, Oct 10 (Prensa Latina) The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Conference is taking place in Guatemala with participation of 200 delegates of farm organizations and representatives of several Latin American countries and international entities.

The objective is to delve into the need for transformation in rural Guatemala, Aparicio Perez of the Farmers National Coordinating Organizations (CNOC) told Prensa Latina.

The meeting is attended by delegates from Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Mexico and Cuba.

Also present are the secretariat of agrarian affairs from the Guatemalan government and guests from the World Bank and the UN Fund for Agriculture and Food as well as the Landless Movement from Brazil, the Cuban National Association of Private Farmers, Honduran Farmers Thoroughfare, and the Bolivian Confederation of Indigenous People.

According to the CNOC leader, this is the first time an international conference on the issue is taking place in Guatemala since the revolutionary process led by President Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown in 1954.

The event will conclude with a march on October 12 to commemorate the Day of Indigenous Resistance in which the farmers will vindicate their right to land and natural resources.

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