LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Colombia's Petro proposes big spending plan for farmers

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Brazil's Marina Silva, former PT rival, all-in with Lula

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Cuba urges 'yes' vote on new LGBT-friendly laws

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Mexican, Russian diplomats discuss Mexican peace plan

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Mexican companies agree to maintain basic food prices

Sept 23 (Reuters) - The latest in Latin American politics today:

Colombia's Petro pitches $13.5 bln on land for farmers

BOGOTA - Colombia's President Gustavo Petro on Friday proposed changing the country's medium-term fiscal framework to take on internal debt of some 60 trillion pesos ($13.54 billion) to buy land and sell it to farmers at below-market prices.

Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, announced the plan amid a spate of land invasions by indigenous people and farmers who have misinterpreted his campaign promises regarding agricultural reform and taken it upon themselves to occupy land.

"Three million hectares," Petro said during an interview with Caracol television. "We'll have to buy them at commercial prices so as to avoid fighting with the big land owners, or they'll call it expropriation."

Environmentalist Silva, former PT rival, all-in with Lula

SAO PAULO - Marina Silva, a former environment minister under ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and once his rival, told Reuters she is throwing her full support behind his campaign and did not rule out an eventual role in his government if he wins a third term.

Silva resigned from Lula's government in 2008, upset at his government's support for major infrastructure projects in the Amazon, and their reconciliation is a high-profile endorsement to shore up his center-left coalition ahead of an Oct. 2 vote.

Cuba urges 'yes' vote on new LGBT-friendly laws

HAVANA - Cuba's government is urging citizens to vote "yes" on Sunday to a new progressive code that would cement laws around gay marriage, adoption for same-sex couples and women's rights.

But some analysts argue many would vote in protest or in loyalty to the government, which, saddled by U.S. sanctions and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, is struggling to provide enough food, medicine, fuel and electricity to its people.

Though referendums have historically passed with huge majorities, Sunday's vote will be the first of its kind since mobile internet was legalized in 2018, allowing dissenting views to spread more widely.

Mexican, Russian diplomats discuss AMLO's Ukraine peace plan

MEXICO CITY - Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday he met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to discuss a Mexican peace plan for the Ukraine conflict that he presented to the United Nations General Assembly this week.

Ebrard said on Twitter they had a "cordial conversation," and also shared Mexico's ideas for the future of the U.N. Security Council.

Earlier this month, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, said the plan involved the creation of a "mediation committee" including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Pope Francis.

Mexican companies agree to maintain basic food prices

MEXICO CITY - President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday he had reached an agreement with companies to maintain prices of basic food items, as annual inflation in Latin America's second-largest economy stands at nearly 9%.

Lopez Obrador said it was a unanimous decision with producers and distributors of corn, chicken, eggs and beef, without confirming the final number of companies.

He said he will announce new measures to tamp down on inflation on Oct. 3, but ruled out unilateral price controls on food. (Compiled by Sarah Morland and Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by Diane Craft and Alistair Bell)