ARMY SOLDIERS PATROL LAND INSIDE FARM OF PRESIDENT CARDOSO IN BRAZIL, 2000-09-13 (photo)

Members of the Army's elite presidential batallion, wearing full riot gear, take up positions inside a soybean farm owned by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, near Buritis in the state of Minas Gerais, some 170 kilometers from the capital Brasilia, on September 13, 2000. Federal police and army soldiers were called into action, against the wishes of Minas' state governor Itamar Franco, to defend the property against peasant farmers of the rural Landless Movement (MST,) who have camped for two days outside Cardoso's farm, threatening to invade the land. The movement is seeking to force the government to give the workers credits and land they say were promised to them. GN/MMR