Brazil & Southern Cone - September 2012 (ISSN 1741-4431)

Paraguay’s self-proclaimed landless farmers (Carperos) regularly invade vast tracts of land that they consider to be underused or ill-gotten, demanding that the government appropriate and redistribute it. Often, the Carperos target the property of wealthy landowners, believing that this will help their cause. However, the most recent invasion in Canindeyú department took place on lands belonging to an indigenous community, the Aché. The Carperos’ actions prompted a strong reaction from the Aché, forcing the government to intervene as tensions flared. The incident has put renewed attention on the increasingly intransigent and aggressive nature of the Carperos. Critics accuse them of thuggery.

The Kuêtuvy community is located 450km northwest of Asunción, where an Aché tribe has been awarded 4,600 hectares (ha) of land by the State. Carperos first arrived in the area last year, occupying an area denominated Finca 470. Initially, the Aché ignored the Carperos, believing their camp temporary. However, as numbers at the site swelled to 400, the Aché became uncomfortable with the presence. Although the Aché have been awarded the ownership of their ancestral land, they have not yet received the titles, due to the slow pace of Paraguayan bureaucracy.

The Carperos often use the lack of formal land titles as an excuse to demand expropriation. In this case, their leader, Gustavo Aquino, claims that there are at least 3,000 ha of untitled and unused land in the Kuêtuvy community. According to some local press reports, the Carperos were encouraged by an   announcement made by President Federico Franco that the government was looking to establish a new settlement on surplus lands located in the area.

Tensions reached boiling point on 26 August, when the Aché leader and former indigenous affairs minister, Margarita Mbywangi, presented a formal complaint at the interior ministry and told journalists that if the authorities did not intervene and evict the Carperos the Aché would forcibly remove them using their bows and arrows. Moreover, Mbywangi accused the Carperos of being the same violent group involved in a bloody confrontation in Curuguaty in mid June in which 17 people died, an incident that proved the catalyst for the impeachment of President Fernando Lugo (2008-2012) [RBS-12-07]. The Kuêtuvy community lies just 60kms from Curuguaty. Mbywangi said the Aché would give the Carperos three days to leave their lands.

The government was forced to act in order to avoid a confrontation. Interior Minister Carmelo Caballero met Aché representatives on 27 August, followed by a visit to Finca 470, where Caballero and officials from the land and rural development institute (Indert) managed to establish a temporary truce. The Carperos agreed to peacefully vacate the land on the condition that they are provided alternative lands by the Indert in 22 days. Following their evacuation, a police cordon was set up metres outside the Aché lands. Caballero ordered the police to remain in the area for a month.

There have long been allegations by the right wing traditional parties about close links between the Carperos movement and former president Lugo and his Frente Guasú (FG) leftist coalition. The Carpero’s national leader, José Rodríguez, added fuel to the fire last month when he declared that the group would back the FG’s 2013 presidential pre-candidate, Mario Ferreiro. Rodríguez has also declared that the group feels “threatened” by Franco, which could conceivably explain their eagerness to test his administration.

• Landed Carperos

According to Canindeyú’s governor, María Cristina Villalba, many of the self-proclaimed landless farmers occupying Aché lands already own lands and have no right to demand more. Using this argument, some critics question their underlying motives. Villalba said that he only way to resolve the dispute over Finca 470 was to for the government to adopt a “clear line… to impose the rule law”.