Paraguay: Failure in the land allocation to the peasant families of the community Comisión Vecinal “Tetaguá Guaraní”, Department of Alto Paraná

Nearly 1,200 families, members of Comisión Vecinal “Tetaguá Guaraní” –department of Alto Paraná–, have been claiming since 2003 the allocation of lands in the framework of the Agrarian Reform Programme. In order to urge the authorities to pay attention to their demands, in 2004 the peasant community occupied lands belonging to the company AGROPECO, since these did not fulfilled their social function; they were state lands that had been probably seized illegally. Subsequently, the peasant families were forcibly evicted from these lands in several occasions. In order to solve the conflict, the National Institute of Rural Development and Land (INDERT) has offered the local community other lands situated in the Caaguazá Department, a place called Vaquería. Currently, the INDERT is dealing with the land acquisition procedure.   

It is important to urge the INDERT to speed up the legal proceedings to purchase the lands to be given to the families of the community. Please send letters to the President of INDERT, with copy to the Organization Fight for Land (OLT).