Paraguay: UN demands clarification of peasants’ killings that triggered political crisis

[Judi Lynn]

Tuesday, December 11th 2012- 05:50 UTC
Paraguay: UN demands clarification of peasants’ killings that triggered political crisis

The United Nations resident coordinator called on the Paraguayan government to investigate and clarify the killings of Curuguaty last June, which triggered the removal of then President Fernando Lugo and his replacement by Federico Franco.



Lorenzo Jimenez made the claim during the official celebration of Human Rights Day on Sunday 10 December with the attendance of President Franco and members of the Supreme Court at the Tribunals Palace in Asuncion. The UN representative said that if the country wants to continue along the path to enhance human rights it must clarity the Curuguaty killings and the recent homicide of the peasants’ leader Vidal Vega.

Jimenez said that the killing of six policemen and eleven small farmers last 15 June in a shootout during an eviction operation of ‘landless peasants’ in an estate in Curuguaty was unprecedented in the country and must be solved.

The land where the killings took place is in dispute between the Paraguayan state and the heirs of recently deceased businessman Blas N Riquelme, and is part of the ongoing clashes over land grabbing in many areas of Paraguay.

As a direct consequence of the incident on 15 June, then President Lugo was faced with impeachment by the Senate and in an overwhelming vote removed and replaced by Franco, a decision which Mercosur and Unasur did not accept and described as an interruption of democratic order.

More:
http://en.mercopress.com/2012/12/11/paraguay-un-demands-clarification-of-peasants-killings-that-triggered-political-crisis

[Judi Lynn]

1. Hail of bullets ends land-reform hopes in Paraguay

Hail of bullets ends land-reform hopes in Paraguay
By Pedro Servin
Associated Press
Monday, December 10, 2012

ASUNCION, Paraguay — Lucia Aguero stood with the other farmers in the standoff. About 300 of them had occupied the rich politician’s land that they insisted wasn’t legally his.

On the other side of the clearing were about 200 riot police. Ms. Aguero watched as the two negotiators walked up to each other and began talking.

Then the shooting started.

Both negotiators were hit. The young woman threw herself to the ground, shielding a friend’s 4-year-old boy beneath her as she felt a bullet’s sting in her thigh.

In the end, 17 were dead, including the men who had been trying to resolve the 6-week-old occupation.

More:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/10/hail-of-bullets-ends-land-reform-hopes-in-paraguay/#ixzz2EmGl2NNQ