In Paraguay, peasants demonstrated in front of the Ministry of the Interior in the capital Asunción on 29 June to protest against the recent violent eviction of peasants in Zavala Cué. The demonstrators demanded the release of political prisoners and the repeal of the Riera-Zavala law, which increases penalties for "invasion of private property".
Demanding land for those who live and work on it, the peasants blocked a major road, whereupon they were opposed by the Paraguayan national police. The police were unable to prevent the blockade of the road and repel the protesting peasants.
Violent eviction in Zavala Cué
On 28 June, peasants bravely resisted the eviction of a community by 400 to 500 heavily armed police and special forces. Several armoured vehicles, as well as a helicopter, were brought in for the operation. The police brutally targeted not only the peasants who were on the land, but peasants from the entire region of the Tembiaporã district in Caaguazú.
As a result of the operation, several farmers were injured, some also by rubber bullets. The police beat, beat and tortured the peasants. Ten farmers were arrested by the police, nine of them women. In addition to the torture and beatings, the few belongings of the farmers were stolen by the police. Houses and production facilities were razed to the ground.
Forced evictions against poor peasants and indigenous people are a constant feature of the reactionary Paraguayan government led by Mario Abdo Benítez. Time and again, poor peasants in Paraguay are subjected to massive state terror, but this does not stop them from continuing to struggle.
