Christine Folch

Investigating Supposed Guerrilla Group
from abc.com.py


The Attorney General's Office is investigating a supposed guerrilla group called the Paraguayan People's Army (PPA) to which it attributes the attack against the farm of Brazilian settler Nabor Both, located in the district Horqueta.


My commentary: In Spanish this is Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo (EPP). Rather than coming across as one of those leftist guerrilla groups from the 50s and 60s, the EPP seems much more nationalistic. Nabor Both's farm is one of those soy farms located in Paraguay, operated by a Brazilian, meaning that most of the benefits do not accrue to Paraguay (and that the land being used was probably ill-gotten). Local peasants have been complaining about the deleterious health effects of spraying pesticides and have been pressing their case for restitution of land that was lost to them. Of course nothing has really happened to address their claims-- in Paraguay today it was announced that the country is eliminating school lunch because there isn't money even as some people are trying to bring charges against the sitting president for appropriating millions of dollars from the hydroelectric dam projects that was supposed to fund social projects.

And, by the way, Paraguayan peasants know a lot about pesticides. Paraguay is the world's largest producer of organic sugar.