Worse yet, the terms of the loans are set to assure that the poor will loose their hard won lands within just a few years. Under the old government program, the MST families received a five year grace period before payments began. They could use this period to obtain credit for housing materials, tools, and agricultural supplies. By the time payments began, they were well established and their lands were productive. Under the new Land Bank program, there is no grace period, and thus no way to obtain additional credit for badly needed supplies.
Payment begin before they can get to their feet.
Still worse, intead of a six percent interest rate, they face a new rate of eighteen percent . The more things change the more they stay the same. As the settlers at Rio Novo struggle to pitch their tents in the rain, they recognize that the future is bleak. They had quietly settled on the land here for a full year, and the courts had recognized that the property was eligible for governmental purchase. Nevertheless, last May, in a burst of violence, the police threw the settlers out .