巴西属于世界上农业生产最具竞争力的国家，但随着土地分配矛盾日趋激化，农业土地改革运动的力量不断壮大。2004年11月25日，8千多名失去土地的抗议者包围了巴西中央银行，要求政府为加速土地改革提供更多的经济支持，否则明年他们将为争夺属于自己的土地而拿起武器。

外电报道如下：

More than 8,000 Brazilian landless activists surrounded the central bank on Thursday and threatened a big fight over land next year unless they get more public money to speed up land reform.

Joao Pedro Stedile, a leader of the radical leftist Landless Workers Movement, said peasants could stage more land occupations if Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva does not earmark more funds to expropriate and redistribute unused farmland, as the Brazilian constitution demands.

Lula, Brazil's first working class president, pledged to settle 400,000 families -- or around 1.6 million people -- during his four-year term. He has only created plots for 106,000 families nearly two years into office.

Earmark的本义是“为牲畜耳部打上耳号，标上记号”，这里表示“拨款；指定（款项的）特殊用途”，例如：1000 dollars is earmarked to buy books for the library.（特别拨款一千美元为图书馆购书。）This sum of money is earmarked for our research.（这笔款子是专门拨给我们作研究用的。）

据悉，幅员辽阔的巴西总人口为1.8亿，其中土著人口30万。在战后的大规模开发中，土著人成了牺牲品，不仅政治上被逐渐边缘化，生存的空间也越来越小。失去土地的农民和大庄园主之间的矛盾日益激化，抢占土地、武装冲突和自杀事件层出不穷