MEDIA REACTION: WORLD FOOD CRISIS; WESTERN HEMISPHERE:

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000222 SIPDIS STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD DEPT PASS USTR USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: WORLD FOOD CRISIS; WESTERN HEMISPHERE: BOLIVIA, REFORMS, GOVERNANCE; SCO PAULO Brazil and the Food Crisis Op-ed by Brazilian Minister of Agrarian Development, Guilherme Cassel, in liberal Folha de S.Paulo (5/4) states: "Brazil is succeeding in the face of the commodities price crisis because of a powerful family-based agricultural sector which produces 70% of the food consumed by Brazilians.... Other countries that dismantled their regulatory policies and focused their agriculture only on external markets are suffering from shortages and inflation. But we're not completely immune to these facts. We must maintain the advances and avoid possible negative impacts such as lowering of the purchasing power of the poorer segments of the population, concentration of land and concentration of land in the hands of foreigners...and the prioritization of exports to the detriment of the domestic market. The long-term solution to ensure food security and stabilization of internal prices calls for several structural measures. It is necessary to guarantee a sufficient supply of food and that is done through strengthening family-based agriculture even more. It is also done through agrarian reform." Bolivian Tragedy Editorial in liberal Folha de S.Paulo (5/3) says: "The [Santa Cruz] separatist campaign...is a more than predictable answer to the political inability and the radical revenge tactic that stimulates [Evo] Morales' administration. Instead of moving towards national conciliation, the president chose, since taking office in 2006, to confront and divide. Just as separatist...is the Constitution approved without ample support in the country...and which awards special powers to the many Bolivian indigenous ethnicities...turning Bolivia into a sort of multiracial confederation. This entire freakish plan to promote revenge for 500 years of 'white' exploitation is based on economic assumptions and blatant stupidity....The president cannot subdue the people of Santa Cruz forcefully without running the dangerous risk of a civil confrontation.... If the Armed Forces are called to intervene on behalf of either side, we'll have the final chapter of the tragedy." White