Paraguayan Farmers and Indigenous People Demand Access to Land and Rural Assistance
A farmer protesting in Asuncion, Paraguay, March 28, 2025. X/ @paraguaycom
March 28, 2025 Hour: 7:16 am
Thousands of citizens took part in the 31st Peasant, Indigenous, and Popular March.
On Thursday, thousands of farmers and Indigenous people marched in Asuncion to demand agrarian reform that would grant them access to land and greater support for rural producers. This marked the third day of protests faced by Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.
RELATED:
Paraguay Faces an Environmental Crisis: 29 Forest Fires Destroy Forests and Grasslands
The 31st Peasant, Indigenous, and Popular March, organized under the slogan “For land and production, against all injustices,” began at the former seminary of the Archbishopric of Asuncion and proceeded through the main streets of the capital until reaching Democracy Square.
Marcial Gomez, secretary of the National Peasant Federation (FNC), stated that Paraguayans are demanding agrarian reform, land distribution, and the legalization of peasant settlements. He asserted that the demonstrators, who came from 12 of the country’s 17 departments, oppose the authoritarian measures used to evict people from the land.
“According to state authorities, 42% of peasant communities, urban settlements, and Indigenous communities do not have legalized land, despite some settlements having existed for up to 60 years. At this moment, all of them are under threat of eviction,” he denounced.
Gomez also called for “support policies” for farmers, including greater access to credit, technical assistance, infrastructure for commercialization, and industrial development “to meet labor demand.”
Meanwhile, Benecia Chavez, national coordinator of the youth sector of the Paraguay Pyahurã Party (PPP), said that young farmers are also demanding decent jobs and access to free, quality public education.
“In rural areas, young people are left to fend for themselves; they have no access to education, no access to jobs. They are forced to migrate in search of work and education, yet in the end, they are unable to secure decent employment or a fair wage,” Chavez stated, describing youth as the “most suffering sector” of the country.
From Tuesday to Thursday, Paraguay experienced three days of demonstrations held on the anniversary of the ‘Paraguayan March,’ a political crisis that erupted in 1999 following the assassination of then-Vice President Luis Maria Argaña.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: teleSUR
