Paraguay to sanction land invaders up to 10 years in prison: there were riots outside Congress

Amid violent clashes between protesters and police, the Paraguayan Congress on Wednesday approved a law that sanctions up to 10 years in prison for those responsible for land occupations and invasions.

The initiative was approved by the Chamber of Deputies during a session during which several opposition deputies left the hemicycle before the vote. The bill received the green light from the Senate last week.

Until now, invasions and occupations of land were punished with a maximum of six years in prison in the event of material damage. The initiative, rejected by indigenous and peasant organizations, was approved by the vote of 49 legislators, most belonging to Colorado Day, which dominates the lower house.

Most of the members of the two benches of the Liberal Party, the largest of the opposition, left the scene with lawmakers from other minority groups to protest against a pro-government MP’s proposal to close the debate, which was approved in a vote.

“We have not had the opportunity to deepen the debate. It is not a democratic position,” said MP Kattya González, of the National meeting day.

The project must be promulgated by the president, Mario Abdo Benítez. The initiative counted only on the rejection of three lawmakers and one abstention, although 27 absent were registered.

Indeed, in the liberal ranks, it was asked to postpone the treatment of 15 days to carry out an exhaustive study and in front of the incidents which occurred in front of the building before the meeting.

Violent clashes in front of Congress

While the project was being debated in the Chamber of Deputies, the national police dispersed a group of demonstrators with water carts, tear gas and rubber pellets, who tried to tear down the protective fence.

The agents were attacked with stones, causing some injuries, according to the official version cited by EFE. Besides several vehicles were set on fire stationed in the area, where indigenous groups from the interior of the country camped for days.

After the incidents, members of peasant organizations gathered in front of the Congress to follow the session through loudspeakers.

Land, an insoluble problem

The question of land is not new to Paraguay. It has a long history. Even the former president Fernando Lugo placeholder image (2008-2012) came to power after being known as the bishop of the landless movements for his support of the peasant struggle when he was head of the diocese of San Pedro, in the north of the country.

During the debate, Colorado lawmaker Basilio Nuñez said that currently exists in the country a thousand invasions of private property, 50% in urban areas.

He also claimed that indigenous groups who oppose the project are “manipulated by sectors of the left and by parliamentarians who agree with socialist ideals”.

“It is a road map of the left, of the satellite parties which admire the father of communism,” said the deputy, who after appointing Karl Marx said that in Paraguay there are “worshipers” of Hugo Chávez, Nicolás Maduro and Fidel Castro.

During the Senate session, the bill was harshly criticized by lawmakers from the Guasú Front, the largest left-wing joint in the country, but with virtually no representation in MPs. Liberal MPs against him used similar arguments, arguing that the usurpation of land by the peasantry and indigenous peoples is the cause of the unfair distribution of land.

“The land issue is a serious social problem which cannot be resolved with prison sentences”, declared the liberal Eusebio Alvarenga, expressing his rejection.

Alvarenga and his party deputy Edgar Acosta raised the problem in so-called poorly inhabited lands, eight million hectares subject to agrarian reform which were distributed by the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989) among his political allies.