Word: peasant
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Words, words and more words. These are all that the Pontiff offered the oppressed people of Central America during his recent visit to that region [March 14]. The only solace that John Paul II distributes to the impoverished peasant masses is an ideology that encourages acceptance of their generally miserable lot. Not until the Catholic Church in Latin America embraces the theology of liberation will it cease to be an obstacle to regional development and an instrument of the power elite...
...participation of the lower clergy in radical politics is not new. Because of their close contact with the common people, priests often find themselves obliged to act in support of the peasant's case. It must not be forgotten that the first armed rebellion against Spain, in 1810, started in a church courtyard in Dolores, Mexico. The leader was Father Miguel Hidalgo, who died before a royal firing squad. The insurrection ultimately succeeded when Mexico won its independence from Spain...
...begins 2,500 miles southwest of Florida, on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains. The cash-crop cultivation of coca is divided primarily between Bolivia (86,000 acres) and Peru (123,000 acres). The DEA, which has five agents in each country, estimates that 23,000 Bolivian peasant families depend on coca for their livelihoods, and that the crop generates nearly $1 billion a year for Peru, where the entire national budget is just over $5 billion. But the business is controlled by Colombians. All but a small fraction of cocaine headed for the U.S. comes first to Colombia...
...confiscated in the U.S. Persuading Colombia to step up its efforts will be difficult. Explains Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Clyde Taylor: "It is politically hard for them to crack down on coca production if it is seen as reacting to pressure from the U.S. against the poor peasant farmers...
...changes generally appear to be popular and effective. Farm output has increased by one-third in just five years, and officials claim that rural productivity has risen 50% in some places. But sudden wealth can bring problems. In Hubei province, a peasant who had earned $54,000 from a fresh-water fish farm was harassed by his neighbors, who stole four of his pigs, part of the cash and 50 tons of construction materials. Admonished the People's Daily: "Rich peasants should be advised to keep their money in banks rather than in their houses...