Paraguay: Campesinos March
by Weekly News Update on the Americas
March 27, 2005
 |
| Marcial Gómez, National Campesino Federation's
secretary. |
On Mar. 16, some 10,000 Paraguayan campesinos marched
in the capital, Asuncion, to press their demands. (Semanario Hoy, the
publication of Argentina's Revolutionary Communist Party, gave the number
of marchers as 20,000.) The column of marchers stretched for six blocks
along four lanes of Eusebio Ayala avenue. The National Campesino Federation
(FNC) organizes the annual march, now in its 12th year (the first was
in 1994), to demand an agrarian reform program--including land, supplies,
credit, appropriate technology, a market for agricultural products and
an insurance fund. Under the umbrella of the Worker and Campesino Coordinating
Committee of Paraguay, the FNC is also pushing a plan for the development
of local industry in order to turn agricultural raw materials into products
for the domestic market. In addition, the FNC is pushing for debt forgiveness
and other demands to resolve the immediate crisis affecting Paraguay's
cotton growers; a drought has severely affected cotton production, while
the price of cotton has dropped precipitously this year. [Semanario
Hoy 3/23/05; Europa Press 3/16/05]
As the march was taking place, leaders of the FNC and the Worker and
Campesino Coordinating Committee met with President Nicanor Duarte Frutos
and several of his cabinet ministers. Duarte pledged to set up a special
$3 million fund to satisfy campesino demands. The FNC leaders then addressed
the rally and told the campesinos of the promise, reminding them that
the "liar" government often says
one thing and does another. Several representatives from Argentine campesino
groups were present to express solidarity and emphasize the similarities
of their struggle.
The government had initially sought to ban the campesinos from carrying
wooden staffs and from riding into the city in trucks, but in the end
was forced to withdraw the restrictions. Still, on the morning of Mar.
16, as a caravan of campesinos from San Pedro, Caaguazu, Canindeyu,
Guayra and Caazapa was passing through Coronel Oviedo on their way to
the capital, police intervened. Acting on an order from the Public Works
Ministry (in charge of highways), police stopped the caravan and told
the campesinos to get out of their trucks. The campesinos responded
by blocking the highway, shutting down traffic between Asuncion and
Ciudad del Este, the country's second most important city, located on
the border with Brazil and Argentina. After an hour, the campesinos
were allowed to continue. [Semanario Hoy 3/23/05]
In Paraguay, 1% of the population owns 77% of the land. Following protests
last November [see Update #775], Duarte promised to hand over some 5,000
hectares of land to families from San Pedro, Caazapa and Caaguazu--but
only a small number of plots have been distributed so far, and other
demands remain unaddressed. [Europa Press 3/16/05]
Weekly News Update on the Americas * Nicaragua Solidarity
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