The human rights mission was called by the Latin American Coordination of Countryside Organizations (CLOC- Via Campesina), FIAN International, the Human Rights Group on Research and Sustainability of UNESCO’s chair at the Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña and the Global Campaign for an Agrarian Reform. The participants of the mission, that will end on September 12, are members of these groups from Ecuador, Nicaragua, Spain, Chile, Uruguay, etc. Real World Radio, as one of the participants, will do a special coverage of the mission.

Background
As defined by CLOC, the aim of the mission is to assess the human rights situation of peasant communities in the country and to write a report that will be submitted to the United Nations, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

However, the mission will focus on Canindeyu department, in the Yvyra Pyta community and in the Marina Cue plot, opposite, as it is called by the peasants that demand the lands they had occupied. The land is in the hands of the company Campos Morombi, owned by former senator of the Colorado party and businessman Blas Riquelme, who died on Sunday. There, nearly 35 km from Curuguaty the Paraguayan police killed 11 peasants in an operative on June 15 where six police officers also died.

The participants of the Human Rights and International Solidarity Mission will arrive in the area on Thursday. There are 2,000 hectares of disputed land that belong to the state according to several Paraguayan organizations, and which were reclaimed by Riquelme as his lands. Over 50 peasant families are demanding these lands to live and work. After the eviction that took place on June 15, even though the police had a search warrant, nearly 12 peasants were imprisoned, three of them were released and there is an arrest warrant against other 46 who are fugitive.

On Wednesday, several Paraguayan social organizations met with the participants of the mission at the headquarters of the National Coordination of Rural and Indigenous Women Organizations (CONAMURI), to officially kick off the mission. Members of BASE and of Via Campesina groups in Paraguay, Sobrevivencia-Friends of the Earth Paraguay and the Peace and Justice Service also participated in the meeting.

There were several presentations by Paraguayan activists to give the foreign members of the mission as much information on the national context as possible.
Several Paraguayan groups began a new campaign that consists in three demands: compensation to the families of the victims, the release of the jailed peasants and the delivery of 2,000 hectares of lands of Marina Cue to the families.

The mission that started on Wednesday is the third one since the June 15 massacre, which led to the impeachment and ousting of democratically elected president Fernando Lugo and its replacement by Federico Franco.

According to CONAMURI, the peasants that demand the lands of Marina Cue claim that on the day of the repression they were assaulted by nearly 400 police officers. The rural workers also explained that they were shot from helicopters. One version says that the police officers were shouting at their colleagues not to shoot, because they were shooting indiscriminately at the peasants.

Other accounts of the incidents say that the peasants had nothing to do with the left-wing guerilla Paraguayan Peoples’ Army, as it was said. These official statements also said there were people infiltrated with the peasants and claimed that the rural workers do not carry weapons.

One of the things highlighted by the Paraguayan social organizations on Wednesday is the role played by the national media associated with the right wing. The government and the right-wing media claim that the peasants have recently become more radical in their struggles and that they are now using fire arms, so it is necessary to repress them with more violence. The Paraguayan social movements and networks reject these versions and reclaim the peaceful struggle of the peasant and indigenous communities in demand for land.

Land ownership seems to be a key issue that is at the core of the country’s social inequalities. According to La Via Campesina Paraguay, 85% of the land is controlled by only 2% of the land owners.

Photo: http://www.dadychery.org