Rural Workers and Indigenous People Demonstrate in Paraguay

Rural workers and indigenous groups mobilized on Tuesday in Paraguay's capital, Asunción, to demand the government comply with an agreement on debt cancellation in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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The protest was called by the Rural Workers, Indigenous and Popular Action Front (ACIP) and the Intersectoral Coordinator Union (CNI)

Demonstrators demand policies to tackle the COVID-19-triggered economic crisis, solutions to the lack of inputs for food production, the cancellation of their debts, and that the properties recovered from organized crime be destined for agrarian reform.

They request also the State's support to acquire seed supplies mainly corn, peanuts, and beans and to face the drought nationwide.

In October, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) agreed to cancel rural workers' debt due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. 

"Debt renegotiation is underway and the funds available within the emergency package they are asking for are being studied in Congress," MAG Minister Moises Santiago said.

"Hundreds of land titles have been issued during this administration, something that will not be resolved in weeks. There are other property requests that depend on a judicial process," Santiago added.

Meanwhile, the Social Action Unit (UAS) has called for another mobilization on October 23.