One of the main difficulties the executive faces, however, is the passage of pro-land reform legislation in the national legislature. Not surprisingly, the main presidential foe is Congress. Despite persistent difficulties with Congress, on July 12 the president unilaterally expropriated just under 55 thousand acres of land in six states, enough to settle roughly 400 families. On July 27, the Minister of Agrarian Reform presented a land reform package to state governors that the executive will introduce in Congress. The central feature of the reform package is the decentralization of power to state and local levels to carry out the necessary reforms.
Poverty is a serious issue in Brazil, and elsewhere in Latin America.
The inequality in the distribution of income has long been a salient feature of Latin American economies. In the late 1970s, the percentage of income received by the poorest 20 percent was lower in Latin America than in any other part of the developing world. The distribution of wealth is especially acute in Brazil. The settlement of landless peasants and workers in Brazil, with technical and financial assistance provided by all three levels of government, is one way of reducing poverty. The failure of the government to enact significant reform in land distribution over the past decade is unfortunate but not surprising.