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On Friday, December 10, International Human Rights Day, thousands of people marched in Asunción to demand an end to the violent evictions of peasant and indigenous communities that have intensified in recent months . They have already displaced 2,500 people from their lands.

The united march is the first joint action carried out by rural and urban organizations united in a plenary session. The march's three slogans were: the restoration of the rule of law in the country, an end to violent evictions, and the repeal of the Zavala-Riera Law. This law modifies Article 142 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes the struggle for land and paves the way for the laundering of ill-gotten lands or lands stolen from subjects of the Agrarian Reform. This bill successfully modified the Penal Code on property ownership.

The rally began at 5:00 p.m. in Plaza Italia and continued to Democracy Plaza, where the main event took place. Not everyone was able to enter Democracy Plaza due to lack of space, and they had to locate themselves in Liberty Plaza and Estrella Street. 

Women and girls, protagonists

Faces of peasant and indigenous women of different ages, girls, young women, mothers, and grandmothers marched in a demonstration that brought together 10,000 people. The Paraguayan heat was intense and stifling: thermoses of water, tereré, kepis, hats, chairs, and fans to try to alleviate the sweltering afternoon, along with signs, flags, and the certainty of fighting for rights not guaranteed by the Paraguayan state.

“The 2012 coup d'état was against us. From that moment on, we've had deaths and persecution. It's been a year since Lichita disappeared. She was 14 years old, and the last time she was seen was with the Joint Task Force. I think this meeting is important, to listen to each other and foster unity of action; that's our strength,” Alicia Amarilla of the Organization of Peasant and Indigenous Women (CONAMURI) told Presentes.

“We were left without a home, without food, and without land.”

“In our country, the judiciary is being installed with a policy of repression. They are dedicated to convicting and imprisoning the poor, while the rich do whatever they want. They leave us on the streets. Human rights violations are used to satisfy soybean and cattle ranchers. Prison and rubber bullets are used to satisfy the landowners. They are denying national development, denying life to peasants, farmers, and indigenous people. They are going to demolish our house that we worked so hard to build, burning our home, our production. We are left without homes, without food, and without land. Narcopolitics is taking over our country,” said Teodolina Villalba, secretary general of the National Peasant Federation.

The social organizations' commitment was to return to the territories to continue strengthening unity and organization and thus respond to the systematic abuses of the current government. 

“Each one of us, haha, ñande, make an effort for Agrarian Reform, against eviction and criminalization. Thousands of us are here against the violation of human rights, against policies against the people, against the government's policies of persecution. They deny us the right to education, housing, and health care.”

Rosa Acuña came with the Cristo Rey community from San Pedro. She traveled approximately 177 kilometers to join the united march and continue demanding the right to land and territory, for a dignified life for her community, and to recover everything they lost after the eviction last October.