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<font size=4><b>Paraguayan Farmers Mobilize for Agrarian Reform<br><br>
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<a href="http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1903/1/" eudora="autourl">
http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1903/1/<br>
</a>Written by Benjamin Dangl <br>
Monday, 29 March 2010 <br><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2>Thousands of Paraguayan farmers raised
their clubs, fists and placards into the air while marching through the
streets of Asunción, the capital city, on Thursday, March 25. The farmers
demanded that President Fernando Lugo follow through on his campaign
promises for agrarian reform, including the distribution of land to poor
farmers, and access to health care, education, better homes and roads for
rural communities. After a year and a half in office, Lugo’s failures to
meet such demands have led various farmer organizations to directly
oppose his administration.<br><br>
“We can’t speak of change if 80% of the fertile land in the country is in
the hands of 1% of the population, while 85% of the campesinos [small
farmers] have access to only 6% of all the land,” National Campesino
Federation (FNC) general secretary Odilón Espínola
<a href="http://www.abc.es/agencias/noticia.asp?noticia=324244">told
Efe</a>.<br><br>
The situation in rural Paraguay is dire; 38% of the country’s population
lives under the poverty line, and most of this sector is based in rural
areas. Paraguay has one of the most unequal distributions of land in the
world, and the rapidly expanding
<a href="http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3093/the_multinational_beanfield_war/">
soy industry</a></font><font size=3> </font><font face="arial" size=2>is
making matters worse.<br><br>
Participants in the March 25 mobilization also focused demands on the soy
industry, which is directly linked to their displacement and
marginalization. For years, large soy producers have been displacing
small farmers through violence and intimidation. The toxic pesticides soy
producers use have had terrible health effects on small farmers who live
near the soy fields, while also poisoning their water sources, and
killing crops and livestock.<br><br>
Campesino leader Espínola told
<a href="http://www.europapress.es/latam/paraguay/noticia-paraguay-miles-campesinos-marchan-asuncion-reclamar-lugo-mayor-compromiso-reforma-agraria-20100325170417.html">
Europa Press</a> that Lugo has continued the “same discourse [as previous
presidents] and has not followed through on his promises to realize
agrarian reform.” Since the end of the dictatorship in 1989, Espínola
said that “no government has responded to the needs of the
campesinos.”<br><br>
Responding to the marchers, President Lugo told
<a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/69126-NN/campesinos-paraguayos-marchan-para-exigir-a-lugo-reforma-agraria/">
Telesur</a>, “Unfortunately we haven’t been able to execute [agrarian
reform] at the speed that we hoped to, but it is moving forward at a slow
speed, and we have prioritized these demands.”<br><br>
If the demands of the marchers are not met, campesino leader Marcial
Gómez
<a href="http://lta.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idLTASIE62O0LJ20100325?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0">
told Reuters</a> that they would have to resort to their standard
strategies of direct action. Without a response from Lugo, “We
don’t have any other choice but to resort to other means used in our
historic struggle such as the occupation of lands and the blockading of
highways if we want to obtain a small piece of land to work on.”<br><br>
***<br><br>
<i>Benjamin Dangl is the author of
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/190485933X?ie=UTF8&tag=commondreams-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=190485933X">
The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia</a> (AK
Press) and the forthcoming book
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1849350159?ie=UTF8&tag=commondreams-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1849350159">
Dancing with Dynamite: Social Movements and States in Latin America</a>
(AK Press). He is the editor of
<a href="http://towardfreedom.com/">TowardFreedom.com</a>, a progressive
perspective on world events and
<a href="http://upsidedownworld.org//">UpsideDownWorld.org</a>, a website
on activism and politics in Latin America. Email:
Bendangl(at)gmail(dot)com<br>
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