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.