Brazilian growers of genetically modified soy, protected by the police and military in Paraguay, last Friday (24/06/05) attacked a peasant community, TEKOJOJA, in Caaguazu. They evicted 270 people, burnt down all the 54 houses and crops. 2 men have been killed -- ÁNGEL CRISTALDO and LUÍS TORRES -- there are many people injured and 130 people arrested, amongst them many women and children. The peasant community of Tekojoja is a land settlement of 500 hectares where 56 peasant families live and is located 70 km from the city of Caaguazu in Paraguay. The peasant community of Tekojoja is part of the Organización Agraria y Popular, part of MCNOC (National Coordination Platform of Peasant Organizations) Via Campesina Paraguay. They are also involved in the Frente por la Soberanía y la Vida (Front for Food Sovereignty and Life). Caauguazu together with San Pedro are the regions where the GM soy monocultures have mainly been expanding in Paraguay in the last 5 years. There are 2 million hectares of GM soy monocultures in Paraguay and the government plan the expansion of 2 more million hectares. In Paraguay less than 2% of the population owns 7% of the land causing the expulsion of the peasants from their historical territories. The GM soy monocultures aimed for export is one of the main causes of this severe situation, the rate of land conflicts have multiplied in the last years, only in 2004, 162 land conflicts and 118 land occupations took place. Tekojoja is one of the peasant settlements recovered during the land reform, however much of this land has gone back to the hands of big private land owners by illegal and corrupt maneuvers or by tricking the peasants. This is the case of the Tekojoja community that has since its beginning been threatened by the expansion of the GM soy monocultures. Adelin Osperman is a Brazilian GM soy producer that wants to control these lands and has begun a lawsuit against the peasants despite the fact that the settlements were legally recognized 3 years ago by the current government of Nicanor Duarte Frutos. Carlos González member of the Coordinación de la Organización Agraria y Popular states "the judge in charge of the legal process has never taken into account that this land belonged to the state and was donated to the peasant organizations under the land reform program". In august 2004, the community was attacked and an eviction was attempted, with the result of several people arrested and injured. On Friday 25 June, at 5.30 in the morning the attorneys Pedro Torrales and Nelly Varela appeared with 150 policemen with the intention of evicting the whole community. During the eviction, and in the presence of the attorneys, people were brutally harassed and beaten. The police were evicting and arresting the people, following which the paramilitary groups burned the houses and destroyed them with caterpillar tractors. In total 130 people were arrested amongst them 40 children and they were taken to the local jail in Caaguazu. Galeano, a spoke person of the community, informed that after the incident 29 men, 19 women y 40 children have been liberated. Several peasants are missing since Friday. In the eviction, the land owner Adelin Osperman (Brazilian soy producer) joined by hired gunmen entered the land with trucks and from these shot the peasants, killing Angel Cristaldo (20 years old), and Leopoldo Torres (49 years old) and severely injuring 5 more people in front of the policemen present in the settlement. One is still in a critical state in the Hospital La Candelaria (Caaguazu), Anibal Gonzalez had to be operated on yesterday. The Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, (the National Commission of Human Rights) of Paraguay is covering the health care cost as the health and social services in the country have been privatized. At the current date, Ademir Oppermann and several of his gunmen have been arrested because of the murders. During the arrest, a whole arsenal of weapons was found: 4 shotguns, 2 of caliber 12 and 2 of caliber 20, one revolver caliber 38, and packages of bullets for shotguns, all these were found in the trucks that entered the peasant community to destroy houses and crops. The actions of these paramilitary groups have been widely denounced during recent years. It is with the help of these groups that the majority of the evictions take place ususally under the collaboration of the military and police groups. The last time this was denounced was in January of this year, when Jorge Galeano, a peasant leader of the community, denounced publicly that Opperman had hired armed groups to terrorize the peasant communities. The urgency is now to help the 270 people that have lost all their belongings, they are back onto their land, where nothing is left. The landowner took away 3 trucks with belongings of the peasants and only one has been found, and is in the hands of the police. It is worth remarking on the urgent situation of the whole community that are now facing the winter without clothes, food or shelter. The peasant organizations have planned several demonstrations for the coming days. There will be demonstrations in Asuncion in front of the attorneys' offices, denouncing the behavior of the two attorneys that ordered the evictions. One of them, Nelly Varela, verbally ordered the police to take the children out of the school and arrest them and take them to jail as they were criminals, stated Galeano. The peasant organization will also try to meet the president of INDERT (Rural Development and Land Issue Institution) and demand the protection of their lands by this institute. "Ko yvyko oremba'e, ha roî roproba haguãicha upéva; roguerekopa la documento ome'eva'ekue oréve Indert ha upévare ndorosê mo'ai ko'águi (this land belongs to us and we can show it, we have the documents from the governmental institution INDERT and we will not leave) stated Jorge Galeano. We ask international organizations to spread news of this situation, to network for solidarity actions and send human right observers to Paraguay. Many land conflicts take place during the soy crop season (December - March) when the peasant tries to stop the pesticide fumigations in the surroundings of the communities, confronting the police and military that guard the soy fields. The peasant communities need help in the form of support for legal advocates and health care. They need to cover the cost of lawyers for the lawsuits defending their lands and to denounce the violation of their rights. Health care is privatized in Paraguay and the peasants do not have access to it. They are intensively poisoned by the fumigation with pesticides and the community members are suffering severe health problems and need to do tests and buy medicines. The coordination of peasant and indigenous women - CONAMURI - is at present upholding the court-case against two Brazilian soy producers accused of murdering an 11 year-old boy, Silvino Talavera, by their careless fumigation of Round Ready herbicide. Written by Javiera Rulli - GRR- Grupo de Reflexion Rural