September 15, 2020

No Land in Paraguay

The preservation of indigenous peoples’ territories in Paraguay has a vital role in maintaining spiritual, cultural, and communal well­being. Despite this important reality, many indigenous communities’ bonds with their land have been shattered.

By William Costa



Members of the Tekoha Sauce community, one of 38 Ava Guaraní communities displaced during the construction of the enormous Itaipú Dam. They have undertaken a long legal struggle for reparations. Photograph by William Costa

March 10
2020

Paraguay’s nineteen indigenous groups abound in diversity. From the Paĩ Tavyterã communities of the subtropical northeast to the Ayoreo tribes in the far reaches of the arid Chaco region in the west, they each have unique cultural and linguistic heritage. In spite of these differences, they all face similar challenges as a result of negligence and discrimination from the Paraguayan state. While the government’s department of tourism adorns its information offices in Asunción—the capital—with indigenous crafts, other state institutions continue to pursue a development model benefitting an economic elite while robbing indigenous people of their land, culture, and the most basic of public services. Urgent measures must be taken by the state to protect indigenous rights and begin to repair the social, cultural, and economic damage dealt by a history of destructive policies.

The approximately 117,000 people self-identifying as indigenous in Paraguay— roughly 2 percent of the population— face extreme hardship: they are the sector with the country’s lowest living standards. A 2015 report by the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples reveals that 75 percent live in poverty. Notably, while on average across Paraguay 26 percent of under-fives live in extreme poverty (households with less than $1.90 per day per person), this figure stands at 63 percent for the indigenous population. The report mentions that indigenous people have low access to electricity and running water and that 40 percent are illiterate compared to 5.1 percent of the non-indigenous population.

Fewer People, More Soy
In recent years, the crisis affecting indigenous groups has become increasingly visible to urban Paraguayans, who have historically been geographically and culturally removed from the trials of native groups in the country. Paraguay’s media shows increasing numbers of indigenous people, especially children and the youth, to be living in squalid conditions on the streets of Asunción. Something is clearly not working for Paraguay’s indigenous population.

At the problem’s core is the issue of land access. The preservation of indigenous territories has a vital role in maintaining spiritual, cultural, and communal well­being as well as providing subsistence through hunting and gathering. Despite this important reality, many indigenous communities’ bonds with their land have been shattered. The 2015 UN report states that 134 of Paraguay’s almost five hundred communities are landless and a further 145 are facing land possession issues, such as ownership disputes with private entities.

This directly violates Paraguayan law, which recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples, including guaranteeing them access to land. It also represents a failure to uphold international conventions on the rights of indigenous peoples of which the state is a signatory. Far from remedying this situation, the Paraguayan state’s actions inflict further damage.

The land access issue seems an unlikely problem in Paraguay, given its low population density: just eighteen people per square kilometer, half that of the United States. However, a long history of policies favoring accumulation by a wealthy few has made Paraguay the country with the world’s highest inequality of land distribution according to the World Bank. In a country where agriculture is the main source of wealth, 2.5 percent of landowners control at least 85 percent of the arable surface area and have devoted most of it to cattle ranching and growing soybeans for export. The state has historically favored the elite while causing enormous hardship for indigenous and small-scale farming groups.

More:
https://www.thecairoreview.com/essays/no-land-in-paraguay/

This picture of a small group is worth far more than a thousand words. It tells you everything about what has happened to native people in this tragically abused Western Hemisphere. History is very much all around us, in spite of evil efforts to conceal it.

September 15, 2020

Alfredo Stroessner, US supported genocidal Paraguayan dictator

Wikipedia:

Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (Spanish: [alˈfɾeðo estɾozˈneɾ]; November 3, 1912 – August 16, 2006) was a Paraguayan Army officer who served as dictator of Paraguay from 1954 to 1989. He ascended to the position after leading an army coup in 1954. His 35-year-long rule, marked by an uninterrupted period of repression in his country, is the longest in modern South American history.

In 1954, he ousted Federico Chávez, becoming president after winning an election in which he was the sole candidate. As an anti-communist, Stroessner had the backing of the United States for most of his time in power. His supporters packed the legislature and ran the courts, and he ruthlessly suppressed all opposition. He kept his country in what he called a constant "state of siege" that overruled civil liberties, enforced a cult of personality, and tortured and killed political opponents. Membership in his Colorado Party was a prerequisite for job promotion, free medical care and other services. The constitution had to be modified in 1967 and 1977 to legitimize his six consecutive elections to the presidency. Stroessner provided exile for Nazi war criminals (including Josef Mengele) as well as overthrown dictators, such as Argentina's Juan Perón and Nicaragua's Anastasio Somoza Debayle (later assassinated in Paraguay).

. . .

Soon after taking office, Stroessner declared a state of siege, which allowed him to suspend civil liberties. The state-of-siege provisions allowed the government to arrest and detain anyone indefinitely without trial, as well as forbid public meetings and demonstrations. It was renewed every 90 days until 1987, except for a brief period in 1959. Although it technically only applied to Asunción after 1970, the courts ruled that anyone charged with security offenses could be brought to the capital and charged under the state-of-siege provisions—even if the offense took place outside the capital.[2][3] Apart from one 24-hour period on election days, Stroessner ruled under what amounted to martial law for nearly all of his tenure. A devoted anti-communist who brought Paraguay into the World Anti-Communist League, he justified his repression as a necessary measure to protect the country.

. . .

As leader of the Colorado Party, Stroessner exercised nearly complete control over the nation's political scene. Although opposition parties were nominally permitted after 1962 (the Colorado Party had been the only legal party in the country since 1947), Paraguay remained for all intents and purposes a one-party state. Elections were so heavily rigged in favor of the Colorados that the opposition had no realistic chance of winning, and opposition figures were subjected to varying degrees of harassment. Furthermore, Stroessner's Paraguay became a haven for Nazi war criminals, including Josef Mengele,[13][14] and non-communist peaceful opposition was crushed. Given Stroessner's affinity for Nazism and harboring of Nazi war criminals, foreign press often referred to his government as the "poor man's Nazi regime".[7]

Stroessner's rule brought more stability than most of the country's living residents had previously known. From 1927 to 1954, the country had had 22 presidents, including six from 1948 to 1954 alone.[15] However, it came at a high cost. Corruption was rampant (Stroessner himself did not dispute charges of corruption at some levels in his government) and Paraguay's human rights record was considered one of the poorest in South America.[16] During Stroessner's regime, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people were murdered, 400 to 500 more "disappeared," and thousands more imprisoned and tortured.[17][18]

. . .

Under Stroessner, egregious human rights violations were committed against the Aché Indian population of Paraguay's eastern districts, largely as the result of U.S. and European corporations wanting access to the country's forests, mines and grazing lands.[31][7] The Aché Indians resided on land that was coveted and had resisted relocation attempts by the Paraguayan army. The government retaliated with massacres and forced many Aché into slavery. In 1974 the UN accused Paraguay of slavery and genocide. Only a few hundred Aché remained alive by the late 1970s.[7] The Stroessner regime financed this genocide with U.S. aid.[7]

More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Stroessner

September 15, 2020

Kidnappers release former Paraguay vice-president

Óscar Denis was taken by Paraguayan People’s Army days after military killed two 11-year-old girls in unclear circumstances

William Costa in Asunción

Tue 15 Sep 2020 02.15 EDT

Violence has intensified in Paraguay in the conflict between security forces and the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) – a communist guerrilla movement active in the country’s north-east.

A former vice-president was kidnapped by rebels days after the military killed two 11-year-old girls in unclear circumstances during an operation against the EPP, which human rights organisations described as a possible “state crime”.

Óscar Denis, Paraguayan vice-president from 2012 to 2013, was kidnapped from his ranch in the Amambay department on 9 September alongside employee Adelio Mendoza, who belongs to the Paĩ Tavyterã indigenous people.

Notes found in Denis’s abandoned vehicle attributed the kidnapping to the EPP, considered a criminal organisation by the Paraguayan state estimated to have 20-50 members. Since emerging in 2008, it has been linked to multiple kidnappings and more than 60 deaths.

While the EPP’s political discourse has focused on the great needs of Paraguay’s poor, they are widely repudiated for employing violence and extortion.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/sep/15/former-paraguay-vice-president-oscar-denis-kidnapped-amid-conflict-between-guerrillas-and-military

September 14, 2020

Fire in Pantanal Threatens Region with Largest Concentration of Jaguars in World

In August, flames already awakened devastated the world's largest refuge of macaws

Sep.11.2020 2:01PM

Pablo Rodrigo

The flames that destroyed the Pantanal in the state of Mato Grosso over the last month have reached more than 45% of the Encontro das Águas State Park. The region concentrates the largest number of jaguars in the world, located between the municipalities of Poconé and Barão de Melgaço, south of Cuiabá.

Of the nearly 109 thousand hectares of the park created in 2004, approximately 51 thousand hectares have already been affected by the flames.

. . .

The Fire Department says it has reinforced, since last week, actions to contain the spread of the flames inside the park. The biggest concern is controlling the fire to prevent it from advancing to the east of the park, which is the jaguars' refuge.

Last month, Fazenda São Francisco do Perigara, considered the world's largest refuge for the macaw, lost at least 70% of its approximately 25,000 hectares, almost all of which are native vegetation.

https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/scienceandhealth/2020/09/fire-in-pantanal-threatens-region-with-largest-concentration-of-jaguars-in-world.shtml?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsen




Jaguar brothers in the Pantanal







Hyacynth Macaws in the Pantanal





Scarlet Macaws


Also posted in Environment and energy:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127140318

September 14, 2020

Venezuelan media name alleged U.S. spy arrested near refinery complex

SEPTEMBER 13, 202012:51 PM UPDATED 8 HOURS AGO
By Reuters Staff

2 MIN READ

CARACAS (Reuters) - Pro-government media in Venezuela on Sunday named an alleged U.S. spy who President Nicolas Maduro said was captured last week near the country’s largest oil refinery complex.

Outlets close to the ruling Socialist Party identified the detainee as a former marine, John Heath Mattew, and said he was arrested on Thursday with three other people including a sergeant major in Venezuela’s National Guard as they drove between Falcon and Zulia states in northwestern Venezuela.

Ultimas Noticias newspaper, citing a preliminary report by the authorities, said the U.S. suspect was a former marine who had fought in Iraq, and that during the arrest soldiers seized a satellite phone, credit cards and mobile phones.

Reuters could not independently confirm the reports. Neither Venezuela’s information ministry nor prosecutor’s office immediately responded to requests for comment on Sunday.

The U.S. State Department had no comment on the matter. The White House did not respond to request for comment.

More:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-venezuela-usa/venezuelan-media-name-alleged-u-s-spy-arrested-near-refinery-complex-idUKKBN2640TC

September 14, 2020

CIA operative detained after foiled oil refinery attack, Venezuela's Maduro says

VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday that authorities had detained a former United States marine and CIA operative after he was caught spying on two oil refineries.

Speaking on national television, the Bolivarian leader said: “He was captured with heavy weapons, speciality weapons. He was captured with a great amount of cash in dollars and with other elements that we have sent directly to the Public Ministry, the prosecutor’s office.”

The arrest was made in the north-western state of Falcon on Thursday, Mr Maduro confirmed.

He explained that the day before the spook was detained, Minister of Petroleum Tareck el-Aissami had foiled a plan to set off an explosive device at the El Palito oil refinery in the northern state of Carabobo.

Mr Maduro issued a call for extra vigilance and heightened security measures by workers at the country’s refineries.

More:
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/former-us-marine-and-cia-operative-detained-after-foiled-oil-refinery-attack

September 12, 2020

The story of the enslaved Black man who became king in Venezuela in 1552

MILDRED EUROPA TAYLOR Sep 12, 2020 at 09:00am



Miguel I de Buría, also known as King Miguel and Miguel the Black

His reign was shortlived, but his resistance and that of his followers in what would be one of the first challenges to Spanish colonial rule in Venezuela and the rest of Latin America inspired thousands of slave revolts over the next three hundred years. That is the story of Miguel de Buria, who is believed to be the first and only king of African descent in Venezuela.

History says that in the 16th century, enslaved men and women were transported all over the New World, and in Venezuela particularly, around 100,000 slaves were imported from Africa to work on sugar and indigo plantations, as well as mines that were being managed by the Spanish crown. Those mines included the popular Real de Minas de San Felipe de Buria, where both African slaves and indigenous Jirajara natives extracted valuable minerals from the earth.

Among those workers was Miguel. Born around 1510 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miguel was brought to Venezuela by slaveowner Damian del Barrio before he was later inherited by his son, Pedro del Barrio. While working on the Real de Minas de San Felipe de Buria in the province of Yaracuy, Miguel, who had then gained fame as a rebellious slave, resisted an attempt by a Spanish foreman, Diego Hernandez de Serpa, to punish him.

An account states that Miguel grabbed a sword from the foreman and fought him before escaping to the nearby Cordillera de Merida mountains. It was from his base in the mountains that Miguel started a maroon colony and ultimately led a rebellion of enslaved workers in the San Felipe Mines. Miguel’s forces included freed Africans, mulattoes, Zambos, and Jirajara indigenous Americans — numbering 1,500. It is not known the exact location of his maroon colony which eventually became known as the kingdom of Buria, but what is known is that Miguel was made king of the colony in 1552 while his wife and son became the queen and prince.

With his weapons and followers, Miguel was able to attack Spanish guards at the San Felipe Mines. He captured many of them and killed those who had been so cruel to the enslaved workers. Miguel and his followers then attacked other plantations and mines across the Yaracuy province, and in the midst of the raids, he freed enslaved workers and brought them to his colony, where some became administrators, governors and military officers.

More:
https://face2faceafrica.com/article/miguel-de-buria-the-enslaved-black-man-who-became-king-in-venezuela-in-1552

September 12, 2020

Chile's Far Right Is Taking Up Arms

After last October’s popular revolt, Chileans are due to vote on a new constitution to replace the current Pinochet-era document. But far-right forces are mobilising to prevent any change – threatening deadly violence.

Octavio García Soto


1 HOUR AGO

In Chile, riots normally mean tear gas, water cannons, and police violence. This is especially true in the Southern Araucanía region, where overwhelming police presence enforces a century-old repression against the disenfranchised Mapuche people. Add quarantine and a military curfew, and you’ve got a stew going.

But there was a rather different scene on August 1, as over a hundred civilians armed with sticks surrounded the municipal buildings in the southern towns of Curacauitín, Victoria, Ercilla, and Traiguén. They risked a $2,500 fine for breaking the curfew (or $12,500 if one of them was COVID-19 positive). Fires and street fights filled the night, notwithstanding a heavy police presence: nice and armoured, both the police and the army stood by and did nothing.

The repression of the popular revolt in October 2019 — leaving 36 dead and over 11,000 wounded — showed that Carabineros de Chile are not shy about rough play. So, what happened, here — had the beast been tamed?

Or is it just that they’re racists? Because these particular demonstrators weren’t demanding a fair redistribution of wealth, a new constitution or an end to police brutality. They were chanting “away with the indios” or “el que no salta es Mapuche” (If you don’t jump, you’re Mapuche). Their protests were directed at municipalities occupied by Mapuche activists, who were demanding the liberation of twenty-eight Mapuche prisoners. The inmates were imprisoned in the context of their struggle to recover at least some of the 9.5 million acres taken from them by the Chilean state, out of the 10 million they originally had.

. . .

Riled-up reactionaries

After 40 years of a neoliberal constitution inherited from Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, the national referendum on a new constitution is finally drawing near. And many right-wingers are starting to dust off their — or their parents’ — old military paraphernalia.

Before the pandemic brought the country to a halt, there had already been violence at demonstrations in support of Pinochet’s constitution. Armed with sticks, helmets, and tailor-made shields (some even had Confederate flags), demonstrators charged not only counter-protesters, but even mere bystanders. The police stood and watched, or sometimes even actively defended them from counterattacks.

More:
https://thewire.in/world/chiles-far-right-is-taking-up-arms

September 8, 2020

In a TV Statement, Bolsonaro Says he Defends Democracy, but Still Celebrates 1964 Coup

Speech provoked pot clanging of opponents in cities like Rio, São Paulo and Brasília

Sep.8.2020 2:38PM

Renato Machado
Daniel Carvalho
BRASÍLIA

President Jair Bolsonaro said on TV and radio on Monday (7) that he defends democracy, but he again praised the 1964 coup that started the military dictatorship. To show their disapproval, Brazilians in cities like São Paulo, Rio, and Brasília clanged pots and pans.

"In the 1960s, when the shadow of communism threatened us, millions of Brazilians, identified with the national yearnings for the preservation of democratic institutions, took to the streets against a country overtaken by ideological radicalization, strikes, social disorder, and widespread corruption," said the president.

He made the statements on radio and TV to celebrate Brazil's Independence Day.

Still in his speech, the president declared that he was committed to constitutional values and democracy.

More:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2020/09/in-a-tv-statement-bolsonaro-says-he-defends-democracy-but-still-celebrates-1964-coup.shtml

September 8, 2020

How to steal land the size of a small country Part VI: business culture

by Adriaan Alsema September 8, 2020

Stealing land from displaced farmers became part of the business culture in Medellin and the surrounding Antioquia province during Colombia’s armed conflict, a recent study indicates.

NGO Forjando Futuros, which monitors land restitution, found using that the use of terror to accumulate land that was invented by local landowners in the 1980s at one point became the regional local business culture.

According to the NGO’s database, courts have so far issued more than 21,000 land restitution orders in Antioquia, almost three times as much as in the Cesar province.

Banana plantation owners, particularly the family of suspended Governor Anibal Gaviria, as well as mining companies and companies with agro-industrial projects promoted by President Alvaro Uribe between 2002 and 2010 made terror part of their business plan.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/how-to-steal-land-the-size-of-a-small-country-part-vi-business-culture/