GMW: Roundup-Ready military/Violent repression of peasant mobilisation

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GMW: Roundup-Ready military/Violent repression of peasant

mobilisation

" GM WATCH " <info

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 23:09:40 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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1.Roundup-Ready military - Ignacio Chapela

2.The US Military Descends on Paraguay

3.Help the Peasants of Paraguay Resist Genetically Modified Soybeans

4.Violent repression of peasant mobilisation in Paraguay! (refers to

events this week)

5.THE SOY REPUBLIC BURNS

 

Excerpt: " National armies are now protecting GMO-, export-oriented

soybean plants against the diverse ecosystems of the region, but also

against the citizens of those countries who insist on rejecting them.

Infusing the CIA and the US military into this formula simply adds deadly

power to an already raging fire. " (item 1)

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1.A deadly environmentalist force: Roundup-Ready military

by Ignacio Chapela

[Comments regarding item 2]

 

The US military are establishing bases and new collaborations with the

Paraguayan military. Many ask why.

 

With the excuse of fighting terrorism, the presence of these forces in

a US friendly territory may yet give some measure of discomfort to the

neighbouring governments of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia, all

of whom continue to build opposition to US hegemony in the hemisphere.

 

One thing is clear, however: internal military and paramilitary

repression has found an immediate use in promoting the spread of GMO

soy.

Herbicide resistant transgenic soy has brought to this South American

region a form of agriculture that is incompatible with campesino or

indigenous ways of life. Instead of changing agriculture to fit

people, the

landscape is being cleansed through violence to make it fit mechanized,

high-input, monoculture soybean production. National armies are now

protecting GMO-, export-oriented soybean plants against the diverse

ecosystems of the region, but also against the citizens of those

countries

who insist on rejecting them. Infusing the CIA and the US military into

this formula simply adds deadly power to an already raging fire.

 

In reading these news, one should not forget that the international

market for soybeans is being artificially inflated, not least by the new

craze to exploit globalized sources of biofuels.

 

So it is that the Pentagon is finding a new cause in common with

environmentalists.

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2.The US Military Descends on Paraguay

Benjamin Dangl

The Nation, 12 July 2006 [excerpts only]

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060717/dangl

 

Quotes:

 

" " The US military is advising the Paraguayan police and military about

how to deal with these farmer groups....

 

" " The US troops talk with the farmers and get to know their leaders and

which groups, organizations, are working there, then establish the

plans and actions to control the farmer movement and advise the

Paraguayan

military and police on how to proceed.... "

 

" They are teaching theory as well as technical skills to Paraguayan

police and military. These new forms of combat have been used internally "

 

" The most recent case of this violence is the death of Serapio

Villasboa Cabrera, a member of the Paraguayan Campesino Movement,

whose body

was found full of knife wounds May 8. Cabrera was the brother of Petrona

Villasboa, who was spearheading an investigation into the death of her

son, who died from exposure to toxic chemicals used by transgenic soy

producers. According to Servicio, Paz y Justicia (Serpaj), an

international human rights group that has a chapter in Paraguay, one

method used

to force farmers off their land is to spray toxic pesticides around

communities until sickness forces residents to leave. "

 

" Paraguay is the fourth-largest producer of soy in the world. As this

industry has expanded, an estimated 90,000 poor families have been

forced off their land. Campesinos have organized protests, road blockades

and land occupations against displacement and have faced subsequent

repression from military and paramilitary forces.

 

According to Grupo de Reflexion Rural (GRR), an Argentina-based

organization that documents violence against farmers, on June 24,

2005, in

Tekojoja, Paraguay, hired policemen and soy producers kicked 270 people

off their land, burned down fifty-four homes, arrested 130 people and

killed two. "

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3.Excerpt from 'Help the Peasants of Paraguay Resist Genetically

Modified Soybeans'

 

As a result of the rapid expansion of genetically modified soybeans

into the area, peasants and indigenous people in Eastern Paraguay have

become the targets of land evictions, pesticide poisoning and

assassinations.

 

While Brazilian, Italian and Canadian Mennonite farmers have been the

beneficiaries of the global soy boom in Paraguay, the majority of people

living in the area only see the worst side of the monocultural

invasion.

 

This is particularly acute in the department of Caaguazu, where three

indigenous communities have been forcibly displaced, a dozen peasant

communities have disappeared, and the very last of the trees will soon be

replaced by fields of beans.

 

In the last three years alone, hundreds of protesters have been

arrested in clashes with police, and six have been killed by military and

paramilitary groups protecting the soybeans. With 2006 shaping up to be a

very poor harvest, the danger of confrontation over land resources is

even more serious than usual.

 

GMO Soy Growers commit Massacre in Paraguay

http://www.activistmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=383 & It\

emid=56

 

Canadian Anthropologist Witnesses GMO-related Shootings in Paraguay

http://www.activistmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=392 & It\

emid=56

 

Soybeans and Guns in Rural Paraguay

http://www.activistmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=486 & It\

emid=56

---

4.Press release of CLOC-VIA CAMPESINA (in Spanish below)

[the Soya Case] Violent repression of peasant mobilisation in

Paraguay!

an <an

argentina

 

In Paraguay yet another violent repression occurred yesterday, 19th of

July [2006] at 10:30 in the morning in the southern department of

Caazapa, ordered by de president Nicanor Duarte Frutos.

 

More than 1000 peasants of the MCNOC closed off a road to require the

fulfilment of their demands to the government.

 

The government answered with violent repression. There are 51 arrests,

including several children and one pregnant woman. 8 persons got

seriously injured and had to be taken to the hospital in the

department south

of Caazapa, Guaira.

During the repression two children disappeared: Alicia Gonzalez (7) and

Cesar (11).

 

More than 200 demonstrators were brutally tortured for more than 2

hours.

 

This all happened after 9 days of enduring mobilisations with

roadblocks, land occupations and the enforcement of various

encampments. The

government is not open for conversation, so the peasants will continue

mobilising and maintain the occupations.

 

The organisations demand halt to the repression and a release of the

now more than 60 arrestees. They demand an immediate response to the

demands of the MCNOC.

....

Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo -

CLOC-CONO SUR-VIA CAMPESINA

 

Organizaciones componentes en Paraguay MCNOC, MCP, OLT, y CONAMURI

 

La Secretaría Operativa de la CLOC CONO SUR informa a todas las

organizaciones de la CLOC - VIA CAMPESINA, a la opinión publica

nacional

e internacional y al mismo tiempo condena y repudia otra SANGRIENTA

REPRESIÓN ocurrido esta mañana a partir de las 10:30 en el distrito de

Ñumi Departamento de Caazapa por orden del Presidente Nicanor Duarte

Frutos.

 

Más de 1000 (mil)campesinos y campesinas de la Mesa Coordinadora

Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas MCNOC cerraron la ruta para

exigir al gobierno el cumplimiento de las demandas.

 

La respuesta fué una violenta represión

 

Hay 51 detenidos y detenidas en la Jefatura policial de Villarrica

entre

ellos varios niños y una embarazada.

 

8 compañeros/as heridos de gravedad se trasladó en el hospital de

Villarrica Departamento de Guairá.

 

Valentín Martínez de 62 años con traumatismo de cráneo segun

informaciones está siendo trasladada a Asunción

 

Desapareción de 2 niños durante la represión: Alicia González de 7 años

y César de 11 años.

 

Asi mismo entre los detenidos estan los compañeros Evelio Ramón Giménez

y Seferiano Rojas dirigentes de la MCNOC

 

Mas de 200 compañeros y compañeras fueron salvajemente torturados por

más de 2 horas, desnudos, boca para abajo los cazcos azules, policía y

la montada se ensañaron contra los humildes labriegos

 

Hoy cumplimos 9 días de intensas movilizaciones con cortes de rutas,

ocupaciones de tierra y reforzando varios campamentos de sin tierra,

hasta el momento el gobierno no da ni una apertura de conversaciones

por

lo tanto la resistencia seguira con la medida de fuerza.

 

De todos los hechos criminales que desato el gobierno contra las

organizaciones campesinas e indigena responsabilizamos al gobierno de

Duarte Frutos.

 

Exigimos el cese de las represiones, la libertad de los detenidos que

ya suman más de 60 personas.

 

Exijimos al gobierno respuesta inmediata a las demandas de la MCNOC.

 

GLOBALICEMOS LA LUCHA... GLOBALICEMOS LA ESPERANZA!!!

 

CARÁCTER EXIGENCIAS Y REIVINDICACIONES AL GOBIERNO

 

CONTRA LA POLITICA ECONOMICA NEOLIBERAL DEL GOBIERNO Del PRESIDENTE

NICANOR DUARTE FRUTOS

 

EN DEFENSA DE LA SOBERANÍA NACIONAL

 

EXIGIMOS LA RENEGOCIACIÓN DEL TRATADO DE ITAIPÚ Y SU UTILIZACIÓN PARA

ÁREAS SOCIALES VÍA PRESUPUESTO General de Gastos

 

a) En forma urgente

 

w Exigimos el cumplimiento asumido por el gobierno nacional, con

los productores algodoneros.

 

w Ejecución del Programa de Desarrollo Integral para combatir la

extrema pobreza de las comunidades indígenas, presentado a la SAS por

la

ONAI-MCNOC, respectivamente y reaprobado en la mesa de conversación

 

w Crédito para 30.000 productores/as, a través de un fondo

especial para la producción de autoconsumo y de renta en forma

diversificada.

 

w El arraigo de los 14 nuevos asentamientos.

 

 

 

b) A corto plazo

 

w La aprobación del " Plan de Reactivación Productiva de la

Agricultura Familiar Campesina e Indígena " , presentado en el mes de

septiembre del 2004 al MAG,

 

w Creación de un Fondo de Contingencia a los Productores para

prevención en casos de desastres naturales (sequía, helada, inundación,

quema, entre otros)

 

w Crear un espacio para discutir precios base de la producción

agrícola

 

w Discutir ampliación presupuestaria en el área social para el

próximo 2006/07.

 

w Arraigo para los nuevos asentamientos.

 

w Reprogramación del crédito agrícola, ya sea en banca pública o

privada

 

w Recuperación de las Tierras Mal Habidas y la construcción de

nuevos asentamientos.

 

w Legalización de los Asentamientos campesinos e indígenas de

Hecho.

 

w Compra de Tierras para nuevos asentamientos campesinos e

indígenas.

 

c) A mediano plazo

 

w La ejecución del plan de Reactivación Productiva de la

Agricultura Familiar Campesina e Indígena.

---

5.THE SOY REPUBLIC BURNS [excerpts only]

 

Mostly unseen by American and European eyes, a massive transformation

of the South American landscape is taking place. A new bread-basket for

the world is being constructed in what used to be the wild and native

lands of the Amazon basin. Monocultures of soybeans, specifically GM

varieties of this crop, are the foundation for this transformation.

 

The social costs of the establishment of the Soy Republic, comprising

Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, are staggering, yet invisible

to Northern media.

 

A recent report from Grupo de Reflexion Rural (GRR) details cases of

murder, mass evictions, land-grabs and bloody confrontations from the

advancing front of the Soy Republic.

 

Full article: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6584

 

 

 

 

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