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By Concepción Oviedo

Photos: Natalia Roca and Leticia Galeano for Fondo Mujeres del Sur

Bernarda Pesoa , leader of the Santa Rosa community of the Qom people and a territorial and environmental defender in the Paraguayan Chaco, has received another death threat. On Saturday, April 17, she reported via social media that she had received threats from Qom indigenous leaders who support the eucalyptus monoculture project, implemented and financed by the Paraguayan Foundation.

“If these people kill me, let them kill me on my land and in my community with honor and courage, as a woman defender of territory and the environment. This is going to the media and the National Indigenous Institute (INDI) so they know what is going to happen tonight. The threat is in my name; I have audio recordings as proof. Thank you,” Bernarda stated after receiving death threats from Qom Indigenous men who rent out community lands. Bernarda says she has proof, including audio recordings of the attack plan for Saturday night.

Bernarda is a member of Conamuri , an organization that brings together peasant and indigenous women, and is part of the Women's Collective of the Gran Chaco Americano. The leader is also an artisan, mother, and grandmother.

Pesoa had to leave school to work and learned Spanish while working as a domestic servant in Asunción. At 19, she began fighting for the rights of her people.

This is not the first time he has received threats . These began when his community, located 39 kilometers from Asunción, in the district of Benjamín Aceval in the department of Presidente Hayes, opposed the planting of eucalyptus monoculture on lands that belong equally to the 8 communities of the only surviving Guaicuru family.

“The communities that threaten us are those that agree with this eucalyptus biomass project, San Francisco 1 and San Francisco 2, which are recognized as Grupo Cerriteños, their clan, and the community is called Rosarino,” Bernarda told Presentes.

These communities form a council advised by the Paraguayan Foundation and signed an agreement to start the project in the middle of the pandemic, without having carried out the Free and Informed Prior Consultation, according to Law 1039 that has been in force since 2018 for Paraguayan territory.

According to a 2012 census, approximately 120,000 people in Paraguay identify as belonging to indigenous communities. 76% of them live in extreme poverty.

The Paraguayan NGO Fundación Paraguaya carries out social projects with communities in several cities across the country. According to its website, its vision is “a world without poverty where everyone wants to live.” This organization is led by businessman and politician Martín Burt, former Mayor of Asunción for the Liberal Party (1996-2001) and former Chief of Staff in the de facto government of Federico Franco, installed after the coup d'état (some call it a parliamentary coup) against former President Fernando Lugo.

Police intervened following reports of death threats after they gained visibility on social media and in the news . On October 27, 2020, Bernarda had already been physically assaulted when she tried to halt the project's progress; in response to that act of violence, the Justice of the Peace issued a restraining order, which was disregarded.

The prosecutor's office doesn't investigate; the police organize community meetings.

To date, the Villa Hayes Prosecutor's Office has not filed a single charge against those responsible for these acts of violence and contempt. Law 5777/16, the Comprehensive Protection of Women against all forms of violence, is also not being enforced by the national police, who failed to respond to the first call for help.

Given this situation, the police called a meeting between indigenous leaders for Tuesday, April 20th at 9:30 a.m. in the San Francisco de Asís community.

“The authorities are calling a meeting endorsing the people who trampled on my community, and we, as always, have no right to hold a meeting with authorities in our community, even though we are the victims,” Bernarda told Presentes.