Evan Abramson

Reportage: A Hunger for Land

Naranjal, Alto Paraná--October 30, 2008--Jorge Rodolfo Heisecke, Director and General Manager of the Agropeco corporation, drives past a landless farmers settlement just on the other side of his company's property. Landless farmers claim that Agropeco occupies more property than their land title states. Land reform is the single biggest issue in Paraguay right now, and the biggest challenge affecting President Lugo. Lugo's supporters plan a national survey to determine who owns what land—a project would take at least two years. But landless farmers groups aren't waiting. In recent months, land invasions in Paraguay have gotten increasingly violent, and it has become common for large landowners to hire teams of private armed guards to stand watch over their crops 24 hours a day. On October 7, 2008 the Paraguayan government prohibited the sale of land to citizens of neighboring countries up to 50km from the border.
Naranjal, Alto Paraná--October 30, 2008--Jorge Rodolfo Heisecke, Director and General Manager of the Agropeco corporation, drives past a landless farmers settlement just on the other side of his company's property. Landless farmers claim that Agropeco occupies more property than their land title states. Land reform is the single biggest issue in Paraguay right now, and the biggest challenge affecting President Lugo. Lugo's supporters plan a national survey to determine who owns what land—a project would take at least two years. But landless farmers groups aren't waiting. In recent months, land invasions in Paraguay have gotten increasingly violent, and it has become common for large landowners to hire teams of private armed guards to stand watch over their crops 24 hours a day. On October 7, 2008 the Paraguayan government prohibited the sale of land to citizens of neighboring countries up to 50km from the border.