This book is a compilation of essays and investigations carried out by a network of Latin American activists and researchers. This compilation depicts the current status of the GLOBAL SOY MODEL that dominates the Southern Cone.
Javiera Rulli, editor of this compilation, defines the introduction of the soy model as a war against the population, the emptying of the countryside, and the elimination of our collective memory in order to shoehorn people into towns and convert them into faithful consumers of whatever the market provides. The impacts of this model go beyond the borders of the new Soy Republics. The dehumanisation of agriculture and the depopulation of rural areas for the benefit of the corporations is increasing in the North and in the South.

Real estate speculation caused soy expansion is leading to ever more evictions of rural families and attacks on peasant communities. The violence against the rural population is both direct and indirect. An estimated of 90,000 people are displaced from their land every year, and about six peasant leaders are being assassinated every year because they support the struggle for land reform.

This year, agribusiness is getting ready for a new mega-crop and has announced plans to cultivate 400,000 more hectares of soybean. Those monocultures are to be established in a zone traditionally dedicated to family agriculture, which implies the displacement of whole communities and the substitution of food crops by monoculture crops for export – animal feed and biodiesel feedstock.

Send faxes to governmental institutions in Paraguay to support the peasant farming organisations ASAGRAPA (Asociación de Agricultores del Alto Paraná) and MAP (Movimiento Agrario y Popular). Find a sample fax in attachment. Also here updates will be posted). Members of these organisations are facing death threats, accusations and violence since the start of the soy cultivation season this year.

PRESS RELEASE november 1st

The community of Tekojoja in Eastern Paraguay has once again found itself under attack, and the Movimiento Agrario y Popular (MAP), the peasant organization involved in the community, is publicly denouncing those responsible. Ever since the beginning of the 2007/08 soy harvest, this small community has suffered the effects of contamination and violence, and an increased disregard for the applicable environmental laws (specifically Law 123/91, Decree 2048/04 and Resolution 485/03).

Tekojoja is the same community that, between 2002 and 2005, was repeatedly attacked by police and soy farmers, who destroyed crops, burnt houses, arrested residents, and eventually killed two of them. The residents, with the help of the MAP, eventually won their case against the soy farmers in September 2006, but other farmers who have full title to land near the community, have continued to cultivate soy and to use pesticides irresponsibly around houses, roads, water sources and schools.

On Monday october 15th, 2007, in Wageningen (The Netherlands), a conference is being held on "Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil. Responsable soy for food, feed and fuel" On this conference the Brazilian soy lobby, Brazilian minister of agriculture and researchers will talk about strategies to develop and 'realise'sustainable soy production. Various organisations however think that the emphasis should be to stop the expansion of soy production and consumption.

How large environmental NGOs oil the wheels of the international agri- and forestry business.
by Reto Sonderegger: Probably there is no child in Switzerland who doesn't know the cuddly panda, the image and logo of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Many even donate part of their pocket money for the conservation of tigers and elephants; for projects meant to protect their natural habitat. Yet hardly anybody is aware that the WWF is organizing ‘round tables’ with those who, fueled by mass consumption in the North, bear the main responsibility for the gigantic network of destruction. Let us therefore take a critical look at the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil and at the Roundtable for Responsible Soy, and also at the timber label FSC – the Forest Stewardship Council.

Foto aérea de la planta de ESSAP

Asunción, 27 de Septiembre - Javiera Rulli
Abogados, miembros de la organización de consumidores ASUCOOP y el sindicato de la Empresa de Servicios Sanitarios del Paraguay ESSAP, hicieron pública su pronta gestión de presentar un RECURSO DE AMPARO AMBIENTAL, por la construcción del mega puerto de Cargill en la zona de Viñas kue, en las afueras de Asunción, capital del Paraguay.

El puerto proyectado se ubica a sólo 500 metros de las dos tomas de agua que abastecen a la capital y ciudades aledañas. Además se halla río arriba por lo cual los desechos de hidrocarburos de las barcazas, el levantamiento de los sedimentos y la deriva del polvillo y agrotóxicos de los granos afectarán inevitablemente a todo el suministro de agua potable de la región. Esta obra pone en riesgo la salud de 1.100.000 habitantes, el 95% de la población del Municipio de Asunción, los Municipios de Mariano Roque Alonso, Luque, Fernando de la Mora, San Lorenzo, Lambaré y parte de Limpio y Villa Elisa.

Why the production of agrofuels offers no solution to global climate problems, but rather creates and intensifies already existing social and ecological problems.

september 2007 - Reto Sonderegger, Asunción, Paraguay
Translation : Anton Pieper, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Presently the Amazonian rain forest is burning in 70.000 different places. The planet's green lung is getting more permeable while steadily drying out. The evapotranspiration capacities are being drastically decreased by the loss of biomass, the deforestation and slashing and burning to expand the cultivable land for soy and sugarcane, or the creation of new feedlots for the extensive cattle rearing. The blushing holds off and therefore consequentially also the rain. This results in an agricultural loss of production and some even fear an infernal conflagration that wipes out the rest of the dried out Amazonia.

[ESP abajo]
September 20th , Asunción- Paraguay

At the end of August an encampment of landless peasants in the neighbourhood of Ka´iho (district of Yhu in Paraguayan province Caaguazu) was evicted, on the orders of the district attorney for environment, Alejandrino Rodríguez. During this operation 7 people were arrested and held for 22 days on the charge of environmental crime. Only yesterday (september 19th 2007) were they released on probation.

This camp consists of 60 families, part of the regional peasant movement Movimiento Agrario y Popular (MAP). 3 months ago they occupied this domain, which forms part of a large landed estate of 3000 hectares. This estate is owned by Sr. Sapriza Núnez, who according to the MAP is a family member of current Paraguayan viceminister of Security, Mario Agustín Sapriza Núnez.

June 2007 A number of international bodies, academic institutions and well-known civil society organisation are currently debating and ‘consulting’ on the sustainable production of energy commodities. Discussions on the establishment of standards, sustainability criteria and certification will give the production of raw materials for biofuels an air of acceptability. But the discussions have ignored all the existing evidence compiled to date regarding the devastating impacts that the intensive production of agricultural commodities (such as soya) has had in Argentina. The 16 million hectares planted with