Christine Folch

(A hopefully daily dose of important news about that South American country we don't hear much about.)

From the press, as translated by me:

"Military-Grade Grenade Found in House

An undetonated military-grade granade was found this Thursday in Barrio Obrero at the house of Sonia Aquino, who serves as the "Coordinadora de Luchadores y Víctimas de la Dictadura" [coordinating the resisters and victims of the dictatorship], who denounced the threat, according to local media sources. Explosives experts have removed the hand bomb and taken it to police precincts for testing." MORE

My Commentary:

Barrio Obrero is a relatively newly established, predominantly working class neighborhood in Asunción whose votes are being courted by presidential hopefuls. Other than that, there's little reason for the city's elites to wander through the unpaved roads and cross the shabbily built foot bridges that lead to the heart of the neighborhood. Stroessner's dictatorship was one of the longest in the western hemisphere and key to coordinating Operation Condor (whereby the Southern Cone's ruling military juntas agreed to share intelligence and extradite subversives). Because he was removed from power not by a popular, democratic uprising but rather by another military coup in 1989, Paraguay has faced even greater difficulty than its neighbors in beginning to address the torture, disappearances, human rights violations, and systemic abuse conducted during the dictatorship. Impunity continues unchecked.