<html>
<body>
<font size=3>Paraguay's Peasants Under Attack<br><br>
<a href="http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/21169" eudora="autourl">
http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/21169<br>
</a>April 15, 2009 By Ronald J. Morgan <br><br>
Paraguayan campesinos were among those who most welcomed Fernando Lugo's
April 20, 2009 election victory which ousted the Colorado Party from
power for the first time in 61 years.<br>
<br>
For too long, they felt, the ruling Colorado Party had favored the land
barons and practiced unjust prosecutions against peasant organizations
occupying land and protesting reckless use of agricultural chemicals.
<br>
<br>
Corruption stemming from the Alfredo Stroessner Dictatorship, which ruled
from 1954 to 1989, and other factors, have left Paraguay with a skewed
land distribution where 1.5% of landowners own 77% of the land -- a
concentration higher than Guatemala and Brazil.<br>
<br>
During the last two decades campesinos have been pressured off the land
by the advance of transnational agriculture and a traditional cattle
raising elite. <br>
<br>
Soybeans plantations, some with links to corporate food giants, like
Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and Monsanto have come to account
for 30% of Paraguayan exports and spread across rural Paraguay like a sea
of green. Many are farmed by Brazilian immigrants.<br>
<br>
While 43% of the population still makes its living from agriculture,
Paraguayan campesinos feel expelled, sidelined and under attack. Many
campesinos have sold or lost their land and have moved to the cities or
headed to isolated rural zones. At times they are forced to evacuate
areas due to attacks with agricultural chemicals. Extreme poverty is
climbing and hunger is evident. <br>
<br>
This year a drought and a sharp drop in international crop prices as a
result of the global economic crisis have put extra pressure on rural
Paraguay.<br>
<br>
Some 250,000 small campesino producers farming on plots of 5 to 20
hectares (13 to 50 acres) are facing financial collapse. On March 24,
10,000 members of the National Campesino Federation marched on the
capital, Asuncion, demanding relief for their debts, emergency food
relief and implementation of land reform.<br>
<br>
"The crisis of capitalism should not be paid for by the poor,"
said one protest banner.<br>
<br>
Campesino Leader Adrian Vazquez of the Caaguazu Department said:
"The situation is critical in our country. There is a crisis in
production as a result of the drought and also in the context of the
world crisis there's a greater crisis because the prices have dropped 70
to 80 percent...this is a grave situation that we are living during the
first eight months of the Lugo administration." <br>
<br>
Upon taking office in August, President Lugo promised land reform for
300,000 landless peasants, education, health care and fairer justice. He
promised to take back 7 million hectares (17.3 million acres) of
illegally obtained lands mostly handed out to cronies of the Stroessner
Dictatorship.<br>
<br>
The arrival of the Paraguayan left in power was symbolized by a visit to
the former Bishop's diocese in San Pedro, Aug. 16, by Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez. During the visit 17 cooperation agreements were
signed touching primarily on energy cooperation, health care and
education. 1<br>
<br><br>
Campesinos Expelled, Under Attack<br>
<br>
The promise of new social policies enthused campesinos and the numbers
affiliated with Paraguayan campesino organizations has surged by about
5,000 to 7,000 families since Lugo's election victory. (At the time of
the election out of a total of 250,000 to 280,000 campesino families
about 30,000 families were organized. 2,3.<br>
<br>
In May of 2008, they joined with other left organizations to form a
multisectorial organization called the Social and Popular Front to
provide political support for social reforms.<br>
<br>
As part of the effort to ensure that the promised land reform would be
carried out and heighten the awareness of the need for land reform,
campesino organizations under took a national series of land occupations
during the winter months.<br>
<br>
The mobilization of campesino power quickly brought a response from the
old guard right wing. The land occupations and the kidnapping of a
rancher by a small leftist group aided in the creation of a
anti-communist and anti-campesino scare.<br>
<br>
An alarmist media campaign calling for greater security in the
countryside, pressure from Brazil over perceived threats to Brazilian
immigrant farmers, and complaints about Venezuelan cooperation agreements
have all played a role in creation of an increasingly tense
situation.<br>
<br>
Claudia Russer, a leader of the Soy Bean Growers Association for many
years, has repeatedly stated that Fernando Lugo will not last in office
unless he respects private property and avoids supporting campesino
violence. 4,5<br>
<br>
In January, just weeks after farmers came to the capital for a tractor
protest calling for a end to the insecurity they felt was occurring in
the countryside, Lugo startled his supporters by militarizing a
Paraguayan peasant activist zone.<br>
<br>
The burning down of a military guard post on New Year's eve caused Lugo
to trade in his traditional sandals for jack boots. But in many ways it
was just a continuation of a gradual process of increased military
security which has included extensive training of Paraguayan police,
military and prosecutors in Colombia.<br>
<br>
American Green Berets are also present in Paraguay training Paraguayan
special forces. <br>
<br>
Campesinos feel that the military preparations, ostensibly directed at a
small leftist group advocating violence, are ultimately designed to
silence their organizations and end their ability to put forth their
demands through protest. <br>
<br>
Ramon Corvalan, a human rights advocate, monitoring the situation in
Paraguay's rural areas for the Service for Peace and Justice warned the
mobilization of troops represented a tilt toward the landed elite and may
cause the organized campesino sector to reject Lugo's plans for rural
reform and poverty reduction, especially, if they seem to be aimed at
undermining campesino organizing or have a counterinsurgency focus. <br>
<br>
"We have to ask ourselves to what point these social projects that
they are planning to implement allow for real autonomy of these
organizations," Corvalan said. 6<br><br>
<br>
PLAN PARAGUAY VERSUS VENEZUELA COOPERATION<br>
<br>
On January 8, the president sent 1000 police and soldiers into an
isolated area of Concepcion department. The group blamed for the attack
is thought to be an offshoot of a small leftist party called Patria
Libre. The attackers did not kill anyone but burned the small
installation at Tacuati to the ground, took two assault rifles, and left
pamphlets behind announcing the presence of the Army of the Paraguayan
People. 7,8<br>
<br>
Several such attacks have occurred in the area in recent years. And
Paraguay has been increasing it's military training since the 2005
kidnapping and murder of Cecilia Cubas, daughter of former President Raul
Cubas Grau (1998-1999).<br>
<br>
The previous government of Nicanor Duarte Frutos (2003-2008) charged that
Patria Libre kidnappers had received assistance from the Colombian
Revolutionary Armed Forces prior to the Cubas kidnapping and that Patria
Libre was attempting to establish a clandestine organization in the
country.<br>
<br>
Prosecutors said the group re-emerged just before president Lugo's
inauguration in August, with the kidnapping of Tacuati area rancher and
former mayor, Luis Lindstrom.<br>
<br>
Lindstrom, 58, was held for 45 days. Prosecutors charged that
twenty´five-year old Manuel Cristaldo Mieres collected the $130,000
ransom and that, later in the year, on New Year's Eve he and three others
burnt down the small military installation. Mieres is also sought for
participation in the Cubas kidnapping. 9<br>
<br>
A week after the attack the combined police and military unit surrounded
the zone with checkpoints. After a month of house to house searches and
road checks and patrols into remote areas the campaign produced no
significant results. <br>
<br>
With the attackers on the military base not easily located, the
militarization program became a grab bag of efforts to capture persons
with outstanding criminal warrants and conduct marijuana eradication
operations. The area is being depicted as a lawless zone full of drug
traffickers and cattle thieves were there is a need for more government
presence.<br>
<br>
The human rights organization, Service for Peace and Justice sent a team
of persons to monitor the situation. "The first thing that causes a
lot of concern is that entire communities and entire families are now
presented as suspects and that they have criminalized entire communities
such as Kurusu de Hierro, Hugua Nandu, Nuevo Fortuna, Brasil Que,
Horqueta." said Marta Almada of the verification team.<br>
<br>
Two persons seized by the military charged they were tortured to the
testicles and by the placing of plastic bags over their heads. The
military and police interrogators demanded to know the location of the
two stolen rifles in what human rights activists said was an
unconstitutional use of the military to investigate a crime. 10,11.<br>
<br>
"There is evidence that there was mistreatment in putting plastic
over their heads. There are noticeable bruise marks where the plastic was
tied around the neck. What was also evident was that there was a grabbing
of the testicles and there are very pronounced bruises on the
testicles," said Maria Montiel of the Service for Peace and Justice.
12<br>
<br><br>
RURAL COMMUNITIES UNDER GOVERNMENT SUSPICION<br>
<br>
Former Stroessner era political prisoners and torture victims found the
president's decision to send in the army startling given the nation's
past bad experiences.<br>
<br>
"We don't want the democratic government of Fernando Lugo to be
involved in repression with the military.They have denied that there has
been repression but we have the reports...and as a result of these cases
of torture we feel it's not desirable. It was not a very nice decision
for Fernando Lugo to have approved this intervention," said Julio
Belotto of the Coordinator of Opponents and Victims of the Dictatorship.
13<br>
<br>
After two months of activity the main force was ordered back to Asuncion.
But the government left behind a new police station and inaugurated a new
military base at Kurusu de Hierro. An airstrip is also being put in at
the planned reconstructed Tacuati base and there are plans for road and
development projects.<br>
<br>
The operation, dubbed Jerovia (Belief in the Guarani language) brought
calls by the agricultural elite for still more troops throughout the
Paraguayan countryside. <br>
<br>
Lindstrom, the rancher who was kidnapped, publicly backed the government
effort and has donated the land for one of the new military bases. And,
he and other ranchers helped pay for the police station. <br>
<br>
Campesino Leader Luis Aguayo, who heads the Coordinating Board of
National Campesino Organizations, said that for the campesinos the
military guard post at Tacuati was protecting a private cattle ranch and
was a typical symbol of rancher power.<br>
<br>
Nevertheless, he said, campesinos are not supportive of armed
insurrection. "There is no risk that the organized and political
power of the left is going take this up." <br>
<br>
Instead, Aguayo said, there is a need for more political activity.
"He (Lugo) needs to implement public policy not repressive policies.
The next step is a democratic process, health, education, infrastructure,
technical assistance, credit. That's the path." <br>
<br>
Unlike left governments in Bolivia and Venezuela the Lugo administration
arrived in power in alliance with one of Paraguay's traditional
parties.<br>
<br>
The president's most powerful electoral ally, the Authentic Radical
Liberal Party, has not been fully supportive of the president's policies,
it is divided into several factions, and has followed a more right wing
orientation. This has helped an alliance in congress made up of the
defeated Colorado Party, and the right wing National Union of Ethical
Citizens.<br>
<br>
Recently, the conservative voting bloc showed its power by announcing
that it would not approve entry of Venezuela into the Mercosur regional
trade organization. And it launched a failed effort to censure Camilo
Soares, the head of the left P-MAS Movement Toward Socialism Party, who
heads the Paraguayan Emergency Assistance Office. The opposition
questioned his handling of a $1 million donation from Venezuela for
drought relief.<br>
<br>
Vice-president Federico Franco and Agricultural Minister Candido Vera
Bejarano, both members of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, brought
the differences in the cabinet over assistance to campesino organizations
to a head by opposing the president's plan to aid sesame seed growers in
San Pedro department. <br>
<br>
The plan, which would channel $8 million in funds to a campesino
organization, was criticized for being unfair and likely to lead to
misuse of the funds.<br>
<br>
The assistance deal had been brokered by San Pedro Department governor
Joe Ledesma and Sesame Seed Growers Leader Elvio Benitez. Both are
campesino activists who knew Lugo from when he was Bishop. <br>
<br>
The controversy further heightened efforts by the right to reduce the
power of campesino organizations, who the newspapers charged, were headed
by corrupt bosses unworthy of government assistance. And it brought calls
to impeach the president.<br>
<br>
Four leftist parties supporting the president, Tekojoja, P-MAS, Socialist
Convergence Party and the Communist Party issued a statement calling for
the program to go fore ward. The Vice president's and Agricultural
Minister's actions were "destabilizing", they said,and they
charged that some members of the government were drawing up lists of
names and accusations against campesino organizations in a manner
reminiscent of the Stroessner era. 14<br>
<br>
The dispute caused the president's chief of staff, Tekojoja Party Member
Miguel Lopez Perito to briefly walk out of the government after the
president opted for a more conservative approach proposed by the
Agricultural Minister.<br>
<br>
After his apparent win in stopping the program Vera Bejarano announced an
action to investigate leader Elvio Benitez and his use of $500,000 in
prior government assistance. 15<br>
<br>
A JUDICIAL SYSTEM CAMPESINOS HATE<br>
<br>
Without a reliable political base Lugo is facing serious roadblocks to to
his left programs and his desire for eventual constitutional reform.
<br>
<br>
"The congress is against him and the judicial power controls
apparatus that is against him. The president doesn't even control all the
cabinet," said Aguayo. "The situation isn't very easy. There is
a very unequal power situation."<br>
<br>
Most disappointing to campesinos has been the Lugo administration's
inability to change the policies of the judicial branch. Campesino
organizations blame the legal system for the flow of blood in the
countryside. At least four campesinos have died in farm disputes since
Lugo took office.<br>
<br>
Reform efforts have been delayed by the Paraguayan Prosecutor General's
refusal, despite numerous protests, to resign before his term is up in
2010. And judges have been able to beat back efforts to remove them by
congressional action. They have strengthened their hold on the Paraguayan
courts by utilizing a provision in the constitution which allows them to
stay in office until age 75 if they have already served two terms on the
court.<br>
<br>
The maneuver leaves the judicial system still controlled by those
criticized for practicing impunity. Since the end of the dictatorship in
1989, 100 campesino leaders have been killed and 2,000 have been
subjected to lenghty prosecutions for protest activities. Those killing
campesinos are rarely successfully prosecuted. <br>
<br>
The president and campesino leaders, who both continue to say they
support each other, gathered in Santa Rosa, Misiones at the start of
Easter Week to honor victims of a Stroessner crackdown on the Agrarian
Leagues, the historical founders of the Paraguayan campesino movement.
The organization suffered an historical repression on April 4, 1976,
known as the Easter of Pain. <br>
<br>
Monsignor Mario Melanio Medina took the opportunity to call for the
organization of a national plebiscite to demonstrate public support for
reforms to the Supreme Court and Public Prosecutors office.<br>
<br>
###<br>
<br>
SOURCES<br>
<br>
1. ABC Color Jan. 7, 2009 Congreso reclama canciller que envie los
acuerdos con Venezuela. <br>
<br>
2. Interview Luis Aguayo, Secretaria General, Coordinadora Nacional de
Organizaciones Campesinas.<br>
<br>
3. BASE-IS Social Research. <br>
<br>
4. ABC Color, Dec. 16, 2008 Mas de 50,000 productores salieron a las
rutas en el primer dia del tractorazo.<br>
<br>
5. La Nacion, March 30, 2009 Sojera estima que Lugo no durará en el cargo
si privilegia a violentos. <br>
<br>
6. Social programs include: A $11 million pilot land reform program at 27
campesino settlements in San Pedro department; a $50 million poverty
reduction program for 100,000 rural families and 20,000 urban familias;
and a World Bank $37.5 million credit to assist small agriculutral
producers.<br>
<br>
7. ABC Color Jan. 10, 2009 Ampllio despliegue militar en San Pedro. <br>
<br>
8. ABC Color Jan. 3, 2009 Carmen Villaba hablo sobre asalto a puesto
militar en Tacuati.<br>
<br>
9. ABC Color Sept. 9, 2008 Osvaldo Villalba lidera la banda que secuestro
a Luis Alberto Lindstrom. <br>
<br>
10. ABC Color Jan. 15, 2009 Obispo pide examen medico imparcial para
probar tortura.<br>
<br>
11. ABC Color Jan. 14, 2009 Mcnoc denuncia crimen torturas y pide Lugo
culmine operativo. <br>
<br>
12. Interview, Servicio de Paz y Justicia, (SERPAJ) verification team:
Marta Almada, Maria Montiel, Ramon Corvalan.<br>
<br>
13. Interview, Julio Belotto, Coordinadora de Luchadores y Víctimas de la
Dictadura (Codelucha). <br>
<br>
14. ABC Color April 2, 2009Partidos de izquierda defienden projecto para
sesameros.<br>
<br>
15. ABC Color April 13, 2009 Ministro pide intervenir asentamiento de
Elvio.<br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>