Global Voices » Belen Bogado

Paraguay: Referendum Backs Right to Vote Abroad

Belen Bogado — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:47:27 +0000

Update (October 10, 2011)

Paraguayans living abroad will now be able to vote in general elections, after 80% of voters backed the “yes” option in the referendum held on October 9, as BBC News reports.

For the first time [es] in history, Paraguayans held a constitutional referendum on whether citizens living outside the country can vote on general elections.

Paraguay, a country with about 6 million inhabitants, has over 1 million Paraguayans living abroad [es] who left looking to improve their economic status and to find job opportunities.

Politicians' and private organizations’ campaigns for the “yes” were widely spread through TV ads, posters on the streets and also in the blogosphere.

Hugo Estigarribia, a senator for the Colorado party, posted [es] on his blog “The country we want” about the referendum:

Los paraguayos en el exterior realizan un aporte muy importante a nuestro país y continúan siendo tan connacionales como los que vivimos aquí. Tienen derecho a votar y por eso MI VOTO ES POR EL “SÍ” A LA ENMIENDA CONSTITUCIONAL DEL ARTÍCULO 120 DE LA CONSTITUCIÓN DEL PARAGUAY.

Paraguayans abroad contribute widely to our country and remain as nationals as the ones who live here. They have the right to vote and that is why my vote is “yes” to the constitutional amendment of article 120 of the national constitution.

Pa’i Oliva, a well known catholic priest, also posted [es] on his blog about the referendum:

Y si no voto en el referéndum?

Simplemente mostrará que Ud. es libre. Pero, también, que no tiene una libertad muy responsable. (…)

Que Ud. es un desagradecido, pues estos emigrantes envían más de 600 millones de dólares anualmente al Paraguay, que por cierto es la plata mejor repartida por muchas familias a las que alcanza en todo el país. La soja que ingresa más, se queda siempre en pocas manos.

And if I don’t vote on the referendum?

It will simply demonstrate that you are free. But, also, that you do not have a very responsible freedom. (…)

That you are ungrateful, given that these emigrants send over 600 million dollars annually to Paraguay, which, by the way, is the best distributed money for many families throughout the country. Soy, which brings in more (money), stays within few hands.

But not everybody favors the “yes”. The referendum implies that the budget of the superior court of electoral justice will have to increase, especially in case that “yes” triumphs on Sunday.

On Twitter several people expressed their rejection of the constitutional referendum. Jose Abed (@joseabed) tweeted [es]:

Antes de tirar y despilfarrar un dineral en el referendum hay otras cosas mas importantes para solucionar en paraguay

Before throwing and spending a fortune on the referendum there are other things that are more important to solve in Paraguay

Others consider that the real reason to hold the referendum is to increase the electoral subsidy that the political parties usually receive and expand their campaigns to foreign countries. Juanma Fleitas (@jmanuel_fr) tweets [es] about it:

No me extrañaría que los partidos políticos soliciten + dinero p/ las campañas políticas, para acercar sus “propuestas” a los del extranjero

It wouldn’t surprise me if parties ask for more money for their political campaigns, in order to take their “proposals” to those who are abroad.

Diego Javier (@DiegoJavierOS) [es] says that citizens living abroad should not have the right to vote:

Pyos en el exterior ni enterados estan de lo que Pasa en Paraguay. Si alguien se va a beneficiar de esto son los politicos! “Referendum .l.”

Paraguayans abroad are clueless about what happens in Paraguay. If anyone will benefit (out of the referendum) will be the politicians!

Despite these opposing stands, many citizens on blogs and social networks do agree on one thing: that everyone should go vote no matter what their vote is, this is what Anto Strauck @Anto_Strauck tweets [es]:

El 9 de octubre TODOS a votar el referéndum

On October 9 everybody should vote on the referendum

Image by Steve Wilhelm under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Paraguay: Photo Blog Reveals Dangers of Childbirth

Belen Bogado — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:58:05 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Global Development 2011.

Citizens of Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital, do not usually think of childbirth as a common cause of death for Paraguayan women. News regarding these issues occurring in the inner country rarely reach mainstream media. As a result, most Paraguayans are not aware of the high rates of death from childbirth and abortions in their own country. This is why running into Rodrigo Alfaro’s photo blog post [es] on death from childbirth in Paraguay is horrifying and shocking –even for a Paraguayan.

At the same time, his photos convey the reality of many Paraguayan women so much better than words ever could, prompting viewers to share these images with the world.

Be warned that the following images can be disturbing.

CLADEM's (Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Human Rights of Women) official figures [es] claim that Paraguay is at the top of adolescent pregnancy rates in Latin America, with 26 pregnant teenagers out of every 1000. And the death rate is also high: 25% of pregnant women who die are adolescents under the age of 19. But as photographer and blogger Rodrigo Alfaro writes in his post [es], the real number could be much higher, especially in the countryside:

Ésa es la situación en el Chaco Paraguayo, donde los médicos afirman que menos del 40% de los fallecidos son contabilizados para las estadísticas oficiales, que en poco se relacionan con la realidad en la cual se encuentran los pobladores -en su mayoría indígenas-, aislados del hospital por caminos de talco difíciles de transitar para ellos, y desconocidos para las camionetas todoterreno del director regional.

This is the situation in the Paraguayan Chaco, where doctors say that less than 40% of these deaths are counted for in official statistics, [statistics] that are barely related to the reality inhabitants face, -mostly indigenous – isolated from the hospital by difficult roads for them to travel through and [roads] that are unknown to the regional director’s off-road trucks.

The Paraguayan Chaco is the western region of Paraguay (Asunción is in the eastern region), a semi-arid area with a low population density, of which indigenous people represent an important part. Alfaro writes about his conversation with an indigenous leader who explains how inaccessible health care is for them:

Las palabras de Rosalino González, líder de una comunidad indígena en Laguna Negra, acaban por describir una situación de abandono repetida a lo largo del continente(…):“De mi comunidad no podemos llegar al hospital más que en tractores o en mi moto, lo cual hace lento o peligroso venir con embarazadas o heridos, y del hospital no vienen nunca… salvo en elecciones, ahí vienen con sus promesas…”

Rosalino Gonzalez's words, leader of an indigenous community in Laguna Negra, describe a situation of abandonment repeated throughout the continent (…): “From my community we can only reach the hospital using tractors or my motorcycle, making it slow or dangerous to go with someone pregnant or injured, and from the hospital no one ever comes [to us] … except during elections, that’s when they arrive with promises …”

"She crossed the Chaco Boreal on foot with her son, that morning the doctor is not there. In rural areas, salaries are paid to doctors who do not exist."

Alfaro blogs about the major health care deficiencies he found in Paraguay, even in a hospital in Asunción where the situation is expected to be much better. Paraguayan blogger Mike Silvero confirms Alfaro's opinion in his blog Sin Cinto ni Corbata [es].

Free access to health care for Paraguayans was established in December 2009, but it didn’t solve the real problems: the lack of facilities for people who live far from the cities, the lack of doctors or exploitation of the ones available, the lack of infrastructure and medical equipment, and the inhumane conditions women are exposed to once they reach the few available hospitals. All of these, combined with the high rate of teenage pregnancy and clandestine abortions, result in the terrible reality captured in Alfaro’s photos.

"A dying child was treated and sent home with his mother. The inability to (conduct) studies in hospitals leaves him undiagnosed, now he must take care of himself in order to survive"

Although the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education have programs that promote reproductive and sexual health education, the government still has to cover basic ground in terms of providing adequate health and education for women. Currently, there are still thousands of women who don’t have access to education, and many are not able to reach hospitals because they live too far from them.

"The poor quality of medical supplies is inadmissible: in this case the needle breaks during epidural anesthesia in the marrow of this woman."

The images and captions in this post are used with the photographer's permission. His post is also available in English.

This post is part of our special coverage Global Development 2011.

Paraguay: Prejudice in International Media During the World Cup

Belen Bogado — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:59:31 +0000

Friendly and playful rivalry between competing nations during international sport events is common; but sometimes the competition goes too far, turning into personal and degrading attacks on a particular nation or culture. In Paraguay, the 2010 FIFA World Cup evidenced that Paraguayans had to look out for prejudice coming from the least expected source: international mainstream media from Brazil and Spain.

The first hit came from one of Paraguay’s most cherished neighbors: Brazil. At the beginning of the match between Brazil and the Netherlands, most Paraguayans cheered for Brazil. By the end of the match, however, many Paraguayans were happy to see Brazil get eliminated. This sudden shift came after a video was broadcasted by the biggest Brazilian TV network Rede Globo, ridiculing Paraguay’s team and Paraguay itself. The video spread rapidly through social networks.

Under the headline “Brazilian envy?, [es]” Paraguayan newspaper ABC published on its digital edition: “As if Brazil had anything to do with Paraguay’s participation in the World Cup (it could only face Dunga’s team in the final) a TV network undermines the Paraguayan team’s performance and points out that the only reason Paraguay receives attention is Larissa Riquelme (a very publicized model during the World Cup).”

"Brazilian TV report offending PARAGUAY!!" video uploaded to Youtube by DaniBoy78

Journalist and blogger Osvaldo Cazenave posted on his blog Caquis, Malevos y otras yerbas [es] about the significant amount of attention that Paraguay received during the World Cup, and also pointed out the negative aspects of being in the spotlight:

También hubo tristes comentarios y parodias desubicadas de parte de la prensa extranjera. (…)
(…) el grotesco reportaje del canal deportivo brasileño SportTV de la Red Globo, en el que no solo menoscabó el desempeño albirrojo, sino también lo matizó con negros ingredientes pintó un negro panorama sobre la realidad del país, como su situación geográfica mediterránea, el “polo de desarrollo” que representa Ciudad del Este, el guaraní “valorizado” que en el mercado internacional( …)

There were also sad comments and vulgar parodies form the international press [towards Paraguay] (…)
A grotesque piece from Brazilian channel SportTV from Red Globo, in which not only the performance of Paraguay’s team was undermined but that also showed the country’s reality through a sarcastic lens, like its landlocked location, the “development area” that Ciudad del Este represents, the “value” of guarani currency in the international market(…)

Soon, thousands of messages on Twitter and Facebook displayed how shocked and offended Paraguayans felt. Journalist Enrique Vargas Pena [es] posted on Facebook:

En la pagina digital de ABC un video de Rede Globo donde los ¨irmaos¨ (de merda!!) expresan lo mucho que nos quieren y despues hay que escucharle a esos boludos periodistas deportivos llorando como si ellos sique fueran brasileros!!

In ABC’s digital edition there is a Red Globo video where our Brazilian “brothers” (shitty) express how much they care for us, and then we have to bear those stupid sports journalists crying as if they were Brazilians! [referring to Brazil’s elimination]

Jorge Roberto Pereira also commented –in Spanish and Portuguese– on ABC’s digital edition:

LASTIMÁBLEEEEEEEEE …. ¿Cómo puede ser que un tipo despreparado como este, asi como su producción, pueda pertenencer al ¨staf¨de una red globo?? (…)Seguramente, nunca ha venido a Asuncion a conocer su red hotelera, su gastronomia.. Tampoco debe saber que, también en Brasil, esta la la miseria, la favela, al igual que cualquier otro país de América Latina …. “

“SHAMEFULLLLL…How is it possible that such an unqualified person and his production can belong to the red globo staff?( …) It’s obvious he has never come to Asuncion, to know its hotels, its gastronomy. He probably doesn’t know either, that also in Brazil there is misery, the “favela “, just like in any other country of Latin America.

But that wasn’t the only event that drew attention from Paraguayan Internet users. As if the video from SporTV wasn’t enough prejudice against Paraguayans, another discriminating video hit social networks that same day.

A few days before Paraguay faced Spain on the field, a Spanish TV network broadcasted an even harsher video [es]: A satire of a Paraguayan young girl begging the Spaniards to let Paraguay’s team win, so that the victory would bring some joy to poor children from Paraguayan. The girl also said her great-grandmother was raped by Spaniard conquistador Hernán Cortes. The video was received with outrage. Diego Legal Cañisa [es] on Facebook wrote:

¡Qué vergüenza dan publicaciones como estas, este mundial ha servido para desnudar lo poco civilizados e ignorante que son algunos “periodistas” españoles! Sólo demuestran el miedo y la inseguridad que tienen! No se va nio a acabar el mundo si son eliminados en 4tos.!!!

Publications like these are so embarrassing, this World Cup has served to uncover how uncivilized and ignorant some Spanish journalists are! (…) The world will not end if they are eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Roberto Espinola Robert [es] also wrote on Facebook:

ESTO ES DENIGRANTE..!!!!!!….PARA LOS AUTORES Y PENSAR QUE LE LLAMAN DE PRIMER MUNDOOO!!!!!!!…..PREFIERO SER TERCERMUNDISTA CON SENSIBILIDAD HUMANA!!!…

This is so degrading, for the authors and to think that they are called from the first world…I rather be from the third world with human sensibility.

Mariana_ladaga tweeted:

Qué triste que en países supuestamente “civilizados” como Brasil y España, se utilicen medios de comunicación para fomentar la xenofobia

How sad is it that in supposedly civilized countries like Brazil and Spain, mass media are used to promote xenophobia.

Both events prompted Paraguayan authorities to take action. On one hand, the Ministry of Tourism wrote a letter to the Brazilian show [es] condemning the video and inviting them to visit Paraguay to knockdown preconceptions.

The Ministry of Minors also voiced their concern and repudiation [es] against the Spanish video for portraying a girl and talking about sexual violence in that context, alleging it could induce violence among Paraguayans and Spaniards.

Despite the bitter moment, many Paraguayans pointed out that the discriminating videos did not represent the entire country's view, but only individuals. Gisse Peralta [es] posted on Facebook:

Pero no hay que generalizar a los españoles (asi como tampoco hay que generalizar con los argentinos, ni con los brasilleros, etc) estuve viendo las repercusiones alla y la mayoria esta re enojada por esto, les parece re de mal gusto y piden a los que hicieron esto que pidan perdon por ESTO que hicieron!”

But we don’t have to generalize the Spaniards (just like we shouldn’t generalize with Argentineans, Brazilians, etc.,) I’ve seen the repercursions over there and most of them are mad over this, they consider it bad taste and they request that the ones who did this apologize for what they did!

The experience also prompted a stronger sense of patriotism among Paraguayans. Nilda Torales [es] wrote on Facebook:

No necesitamos ofender a nadie para sentirnos grandes!!!! FUERZA ALBIRROJA. TE AMAMOS Y ESTAMOS ORGULLOSOS DE USTEDES!!!

We don’t need to offed anybody to feel great!!! GO ALBIRROJA, WE LOVE YOU AND WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!

Ever Zalazar [es], also on Facebook, said:

Gente, el video es desgradable, pero (…) no culpemos a toda Espana. Nosotros somos orgullosos de nuestro Pais, y de nuestra raza! Si algunos espanoles quieren satirizar la pobreza, nosotros mostremos lo bueno q tenemos y hablemos lo bueno q tiene Espana, las paellas por ejemplo! Mostremos q los Paraguayos somos UN PUEBLO valiente y heroico”

People this video is unpleaseant (…) but let’s not blame Spain for it. We are proud of our country and our race! If a few Spaniards want to mock poverty, we should show the good things we have and talk about the good things that Spain has, like paellas! Let’s show that Paraguay is a brave and heroic people!

Eventually the ambassador of Spain in Paraguay issued an apology [es] and said he was embarrassed by the video. SporTV also apologized publicly [es] on the show.

See Brazil: Prejudice against Paraguay in the Media to read about the Brazilian reaction to the video from SporTV

Paraguay: State of Emergency to Fight EPP Guerrilla Group

Belen Bogado — Tue, 04 May 2010 03:42:38 +0000

Military troops and police have been deployed in northern Paraguay after a terrorist band spread fear with a series of kidnappings and murders in the region. Congress gave President Fernando Lugo the power to declare a 30-day emergency for five departments following the killing of a police officer and three workers at a farm by alleged members of the so-called Paraguayan People's Army (EPP for its initials in Spanish). This state of emergency and counter-offensive is believed to be one of the more drastic actions to halt the EPP.

Recently, the group also kidnapped Fidel Zavala, a wealthy rancher and freed him two months later after a ransom was paid.

A private security guard in Pedro Juan Caballero. Photo by Eliel FJ and used under a Creative Commons license.

The group EPP had been active during previous governments; one of their most notorious crimes was the 2004 kidnapping of 32-year-old Cecilia Cubas, daughter of former president Raul Cubas, who was found dead in 2005.

Blogger Boz posts about the need for the South American region to unite and support Lugo in his fight against the terrorist group as he faces opposition from many sectors of the government and citizens in general as well:

The president is sensitive to criticism that he has not done enough to counter violence or that he might be linked to radicals in the country (…)

The region appears to be quiet on the recent developments. The fight against the EPP seems like the sort of issue that would be good for UNASUR or the SADC (or the OAS) to discuss. I would think the region would be unified in backing Lugo and strengthening his government against violence on one side and political criticism on the other.

However, it has been evident that members of the government are not uniting in support of Lugo. Vice-President Federico Franco questions whether Lugo is doing enough to capture members of the EPP, and wonders whether the state of emergency was just a “farce” [es] just to show the people that he is trying to do something against the EPP.

Lugo’s real intention by declaring a state of emergency has been questioned even by the Vice-president Federico Franco. He said that there is no real attempt to catch EPP.

Franco’s statements have raised criticism from many, including Paraguayan blogger Jose Angel Lopez Barrios who posts on his blog:

Bien harían los señores de la política en acompañar el gobierno de Lugo hasta que termine su mandato, las divisiones en tiempo de crisis solo nos debilitan doblemente y le prestan un flaco favor a la población…..

Mientras tanto el EPP a desatado en el norte de nuestro país una vorágine de “ajustes de cuentas” en el que ya empezaron a destacarse senadores y diputados, los mencionados parecen ser ahora el blanco de los sicarios del narcotrafico.

Por ahora parece que el gobierno esta abocado ardorosamente a desarticular el EPP y espero que tenga éxito, porque otro resultado nos traería mas sufrimiento y delito por mucho tiempo.

It would be a good thing for politicians to accompany Lugo’s government until his period is over, the divisions in times of crisis only weaken us double and do not favor the people….

In the meantime, the EPP has been “getting even” in the north of our country, in which deputies of the lower house of congress and senators have began to be targeted, they now seem to be the target of drug traffickers’s hitmen.

It seems like the government is now ardently devoted to disintegrate the EPP and I hope they succeed, because any other result would bring us more suffering and crimes for a long time.

Before becoming President, Lugo was a priest and bishop in the rural parts of Paraguay, where it was uncovered that a former altar boy in the parish became one of the kidnappers of Zavala. There are some people trying to make the connection between the two and want Lugo to clarify if there are any links or relationships. Journalist and blogger Benjamin Fernandez Bogado writes:

Es además el tiempo de la sinceridad del presidente de la república con el país; él debe decirnos no solo que no tiene nada que ver con estos grupos, que si lo fuera, no solo sería escandaloso, sino razón para desalojarlo del poder inmediatamente; además debe explicarnos cuánto conocía a estos dirigentes de sus tiempos obispales y cuánto coincidió con sus métodos. Mientras no lo haga, ni militares y menos aun los desmoralizados y quebrados policías harán nada ni en 30 ni 60 días.

It is also time for the president to be honest to his country, not only should he tell us that he doesn’t have anything to do with these groups, because if he does, not only it would be a scandal, but a reason to oust him immediately from power. In addition, he needs to explain to us how much he knew about these leaders during his times as a bishop and how much he coincided with their methods. Until he does, neither the military nor the demoralized and broke police will be able to achieve anything not in 30 or 60 days.

A week after the state of emergency was declared no suspects were captured.

Paraguay: Spreading the Guaraní Language Through Blogging

Belen Bogado — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 06:39:14 +0000

In Paraguay, where only 3% of the population has access to internet [es] and where the indigenous language of Guaraní is spoken by 88% of the population and also an official state language, Mirta Martínez saw an opportunity where nobody else did. A journalist and a Guaraní teacher, she became the first and only blogger writing in Guaraní in the world, captivating readers not only in Paraguay but also around the globe.

Mirta Martínez

Guaraní is a language originally spoken by the Guaraní people, a local indigenous community that inhabits Paraguay, and parts of Argentina, Brasil and Bolivia. Although Guaraní spread all the way through these countries, today it is most widely spoken in Paraguay, together with Spanish (brought by the Spaniards when they invaded South America). The remaining Guaraní indigenous population in Paraguay is now very small, but most Paraguayan citizens inherited their language. Up until a few years ago, Guaraní was considered a language spoken only by “lower class citizens,” and people from the country side. It was only in 1992 that an educational reform made it mandatory that classes should be taught both in Guaraní and Spanish.

Photo courtesy of Mirta Martínez

Martinez figured out that internet could be a great way to spread the Guaraní language, so she presented a project to her bosses at ABC Color, the largest nationally distributed newspaper, to make a Guaraní version of the online version of the newspaper and to write a blog in the Guaraní language, and it was approved. Today, people from all over the world who are fascinated by this beautiful language get in direct contact with Martinez through her blog ABC Rogue.

The following is an interview with this visionary journalist:

Global Voices: You are the first person blogging in Guaraní…

Mirta Martínez: Yes, this year it’s going to be 10 years that I've been writing news for the Guaraní online version of the paper called Marandu (news) and since October 2008 we have the first and only blog in Guaraní. Many topics get covered in the blog, you will find posts on (US President Barack) Obama and (Paraguayan President Fernando) Lugo, they both surprised everybody when they got elected… we also talk about health issues such as the H1N1 virus. Any topic that impacts me and that I believe can be of general interest.

I can tell you that the readers of this blog made it their own.

As an anecdote, last year a French-Paraguayan reader visited Paraguay, he is one of the assiduous readers of my blog ABC Rogue, Oscar Uberti. He’s a retired engineer and he’s very interested in the Guaraní language, so he started writing a Guaraní dictionary based on the technical vocabulary engineers use. So he uses the blog to learn and speak with other Guaraní speakers while in France.

GV: Being the majority of the population Guaraní speakers, why do you think there is only one blog in Guaraní?

MM: First of all one has to be in constant training and moreover keeping up with the new technology tools that develop new spaces for the spread of language. Also, to be able to write in a newspaper one has to have journalistic skills and education, and you must love it. Working in a newspaper requires a lot of sacrifice, because it absorbs plenty of time and your family must collaborate by providing trust and balance. I’m now finishing my Masters degree in Guaraní, I would be part of the first graduating class, and there are 30 of us classmates, among them poets, journalists and professors.

GV: Who reads your blog more, Paraguayans or foreigners?

MM: The ones who read my blog are mainly from foreign countries, students at universities from Japan, United States, Kiel y Mainz, (Germany) students in Canada. Also Paraguayans who live in Spain, Brazil, and in Paraguay, people who admire the language and Guaraní students. Also people who are surprised to find the blog, it’s a novelty. Nobody ever imagined that this could be done.

GV: Do you think the amount of blogs in Guaraní will increase?

MM: I believe they will increase, there are a lot of people who write well and there are very good journalists who had studied Guaraní to be able to write blogs, but until now they hold back from doing it, it seems like I’m the only one who isn’t afraid of making mistakes.

It’s just a matter of taking the courage to do it. It will make me very happy because it is a space given to a language that still many feel ashamed of having or speaking. And they haven’t realized the value of expression that emerges from the same words that describe the teko (essence) of the human being.

Paraguay: Rescuing Citizen Experiences Through the Use of Blogs

Belen Bogado — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:30:58 +0000

When Carlos Rodríguez leaves his home in Asunción, Paraguay, he always carries a video camera with him. As a journalist and blogger, he knows that there is news around every corner, waiting to be captured with his camera and then be broadcasted on the screens of thousands of internet users from all over the world, who are compelled to learn about Paraguayan reality.

After a long career in Paraguayan media working in radio, television and print, Rodriguez discovered the wonders how a blog can provide in a country where there is few existing mainstream media outlets that dominate public opinion. Rodríguez shares with us proudly that R.E.S.C.A.T.A.R. [es] was one of the first Paraguayan multimedia blogs to post video footage.

http://rescatar.blogspot.com/

Initially, RESCATAR was going to be financed by an NGO, with the aim to start a big network of local blogs, but when the project was halted, Rodriguez decided to make it his own and go forward with the project with his son’s assistance. During a phone interview, Rodriguez told us about his experience.

Global Voices: Why did you choose R.E.S.C.A.T.A.R. (to rescue in English) as the blog’s name?

Carlos Rodríguez: The acronym stands for: The Rescue of experiences of civil society to learn, spread, and increase results.

Our goal is to rescue civil society’s experiences and generate a debate based on them, because in Paraguay there are important things being done and many valuable experiences of the people, but no one finds out about them because they take place on a community level. Applying these experiences into other areas of the society can help solve the many problems that the country is going through.

GV: What is the difference between posting on a blog and writing on a mainstream media site?

CR: It’s a very life-giving experience. Every journalist dreams about being able to express their own point of view without the commercial harassment of the media. Writing on my blog I don’t have a commercial manager telling me, “be careful with what you are writing.”

Right now I’m writing an article questioning a deputy of the lower house of Congress …I don’t worry if the person I’m questioning is a politician, or even a big company…Here, we write against (President Fernando) Lugo, against the right or the center. One experiments without boundaries of any kind.

Now I get to write from a citizen perspective free from any political or sectarian interests. Just like any citizen who pays their taxes and suffers the local reality. It’s very different than what the mainstream media is doing.

GV: Do you think your blog collaborates with the Paraguayan society?

CR: I think that a blog collaborates. I only have a few readers, but there is a group of people who make the important decisions in Paraguay, and what I write reaches this small group of people who has the power of decision. I feel that my posts have somehow modified conduct.

Carlos Rodríguez

GV: How do you think it collaborates, any examples?

CR: I wrote very harsh assessments of ABC newspaper (the largest distributed newspaper in the country,) because I ran into a case of distortion of information. ABC published the statements of the Bishop of Concepción (a department of Paraguay), where he allegedly criticized president Lugo for defending kidnappers in Paraguay. I followed that story because I noticed the information was distorted and posted about it on the blog.

A week later, ABC published another interview in which the Bishop questioned the previous publication, denying what had been published. But his questioning was hidden in the third paragraph of the story, so this time, I decided to write an article questioning not the journalist, but the owner of ABC for allowing this type of journalism.

I notice there are certain incoherent behaviors that change when people denounce them in a solid way. My medium is not a powerful medium, but I work with the power of reason. I’m not saying I’m indisputable, but I do make an effort so that what I say is solid.

GV: Would you say R.E.S.C.A.T.A.R. plays the role of a watchdog of Paraguayan press?

CR: We do somehow examine the press, Paraguay doesn’t have a watchdog of the press, this is very important in a country where the media don’t follow a code of ethics. Media request ethics from the rest, but they don’t have one, there is hypocrisy in the media.

GV: Who reads your blog more, Paraguayans or foreigners?

CR: Foreigners, Paraguayan readers are only about 35% of the total. Having fewer Paraguayan readers doesn’t bother me, there are few Paraguayan readers in general, this also happens with newspapers. I have a control system to know how many visitors I have, who is reading the blog, where and which institutions or entities are reading it, sometimes I receive visits from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain for instance, or universities from all over the world.

GV: Do you think citizen journalism blogs have a future in Paraguay?

CR: Yes they do, blogs must emerge and project themselves. Media concentration is in very few hands, a few business men are deciding which messages are sent to the people and they are capable of dominating the collective’s thinking. This concentration must be broken, the community radio stations that are being attacked by politicians today, are fundamental to get another vision of the national reality, and blogs are also a medium to break this concentration.

Paraguay: The Chaotic Ciudad del Este

Belen Bogado — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:02:12 +0000

Not far from one of the most beautiful touristic attractions in the world, all kinds of illegal activities are taking place: money laundering, cigarette smuggling, drugs and arms trade. However, there is no reason to avoid visiting the Paraguayan city of Ciudad del Este (City of the East), as this city also attracts thousands of tourists around the world for its unmatchable appeal.

Photo of Ciudad del Este by dckf_$êr@pH!nX and used under a Creative Commons license.

The city is located at the triple border with the Brazilian city Foz do Iguaçu and Argentinean city Puerto Iguazu, and is only minutes away from the Iguazu Falls. The proximity of these other cities make it easy to compare the three. While Ciudad del Este is known for its chaotic downtown traffic jam, the opposite is true of its neighbor Foz do Iguaçu with its well-designed and organized surroundings. In terms of size, Puerto Iguazu only has 1/10 of the population of its other two neighboring cities.

Ciudad del Este is very popular among tourists for its reputation that anything can be found there, from counterfeit Viagra, pirated CDs, exotic pets, and AK-47 rifles. Paraguayan Blogger Muna Annahas blogs about how shocking the landscape of Ciudad del Este can be for a tourist:

On the way I saw all kind of things like people with babies and small children in motorcycles without helmets, teens jaywalking and crossing the route, small booths on the side of the streets selling all kinds of fruits and other small items.

I honestly hate the route, there is absolute not respect for the other drivers, its a no law route…

It is a small growing city that most of its income comes from goods sold to the Brazilians, in Ciudad del Este you can find all kind of goods, huge malls with all kinds of stuff you can ever imagine, from original to counterfeit…from delicatessen to car accessories, from perfumes to laptops parts…everything you can possible imagine, you can find there.

One of Ciudad del Este’s most profitable activities is cigarette counterfeiting. Blogger and journalist Marina Walker Guevara, Mabel Rehnfeldt y Marcelo Soares write about it on the blog Ciperchile [es]:

Paraguay se ha convertido en uno de los mayores productores mundiales de cigarrillos de contrabando, con más de US$ 1.000 millones desaparecidos anualmente en el mercado negro. Aprovechan las facilidades de la Triple Frontera, por lo que los negocios se han expandido hacia las mafias brasileñas. Hoy fabricar cigarrillos en Paraguay es aún más barato que hacerlo en China y se han confiscado cajetillas paraguayas en lugares tan lejanos como Irlanda.

Desde allí, durante años, los cigarrillos se contrabandeaban al Brasil en furgonetas, camiones y hasta autobuses a través del Puente de la Amistad (…) Brasil intensificó los controles en la frontera en 2005 de manera que los contrabandistas mutaron de las carreteras al agua. A partir del atardecer, lanchas de motor parten de cualquiera de los 300 muelles improvisados a lo largo de la periferia del lago Itaipú.

Paraguay has become one of the major producers of contraband cigarettes worldwide, with over one billion dollars disappearing annually on the black market. The smugglers take advantage of the ease of movement on the triple border to expand the businesses into the Brazilian mafias. Producing cigarettes today in Paraguay is cheaper than producing them in China, and Paraguayan cigarettes have been confiscated in such distant places as Ireland.

For years, cigarettes have been smuggled to Brazil in vans, trucks, and even buses through the Friendship Bridge that links Ciudad del Este with Brazilian Foz de Iguazu. (…) When Brazil intensified the controls in the border in 2005, the smugglers went from the roads to the water. During sunset, boats sail from any of the 300 improvised piers along the Itaipu lake.

Ciudad del Este now the second largest city in Paraguay, with a population estimated at 320,782 in 2008. The city grew in population during the building of the Itaipu dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant located on the Paraná River. Many of the employees hired to work at the dam during its construction, continue to work there as technical staff today.

The city also has its charm, a result of the green landscape and the cultural mix that take place in a border city. Victor Ortiz blogs about it on Catarsis Heuristica [es]:

Lo que nunca olvidaré son los árboles. Cientos de ellos (alejándose del centro de la ciudad), rodeaban las rutas y caminos. (…) Tampoco olvidaré lo poco que estoy acostumbrado a escuchar hablar el portugués (o portuñol). Ellos (los brasileños) dicen que el español es un portugués mal hablado. Para mí el portugués es un español mal pero muy mal hablado.”

I will never forget the trees. Hundreds of them (moving away from downtown) surrounded the roads and routes. (…) I won't forget how I am not used to hear Portuguese either or portuñol, (the mix between Spanish and Portuguese). They (the Brazilians) claim that Spanish is Portuguese poorly spoken. I say Portuguese is Spanish poorly spoken.

Ciudad del Este is also a popular location for tourists who want to visit the Iguazu Falls, the waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border of the Brazilian state of Paraná and the Argentine province of Misiones. The Iguazu Falls are one of the most impressive and beautiful falls in the world, with 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River, some of the falls reach up to 82 meters.

Photo of Iguazu Falls by ewanr and used under a Creative Commons license.

Bangladesh: The Rising Voices of Women in a Drowning Country

Belen Bogado — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:23:36 +0000

Even in the most extreme circumstances when survival is at stake, Bangladeshi women stand out for their capacity to unite and together overcome climate change’s effects on their lives.

A summary of Bangladesh’s situation, a video filmed and posted by CaroOxfam

Sufia holds her child while she brings to memory the most painful day of her life, the day she lost her son. Her home was being flooded with water and when she turned to nurse her newborn baby, her five-year-old son was carried away by the flood. “I could not find my son, I searched so hard”, says Sufia breaking into tears in the video filmed and posted by Oxfam. Sadly, to lose a loved one to the extreme weather conditions in Bangladesh is not an uncommon situation.

Bangladesh is one of the most affected countries by climate change in the world. Although Bangladesh’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emission is low, floods and natural disasters are becoming more and more frequent. Its vulnerability lies on its geographic location as a coastal country and its high population density.

On the blog The Daily IIJ, Bangalee blogger Jahangir Akash highlights the alarming numbers of affected Bangladeshis:

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is the city most threatened in Asia by climate change. If things continue as they are, in the future, the economy will fail and human life itself will be threatened. At present, there are 10.3 million people living in Dhaka. In 2025, the population will have increased to 20.5 million.

A Country Under Water

In her blog Anushay’s point Bangladeshi blogger Anushay Hossain posts about how unsettling it was to grow up in a country that was going under water:

I grew up knowing my country was drowning. My childhood memories are full of flashing images of annual monsoon rains making rivers out of our roads, lakes out of our rice paddy fields, washing away farmers’ harvests, pushing the rural population into our already overpopulated capital city. The rumor in the playground was that in twenty years Bangladesh would be completely underwater. Today that statement is no longer a rumor, but very much a reality.

During natural disasters women are more likely to suffer the consequences than men. Jean D’ Cunha, regional program director of the United Nations Fund for Women based in Thailand said that some women in Bangladesh died during a flood in 2001 because their traditional long dress and burka hindered their movements and prevented them from escaping the rising waters. But despite their disadvantages, Bangladeshi women find ways to adapt to climate change’s impacts.

Blogger Ben Beaumont writes in the Oxfam blog about Hasina, a woman who had to move six times due to floods. Now she is the president of local women’s group called Shanti Mohila Committee in the Shariatpur district. Each member of the group collaborates a small amount of money to both prepare for the floods and assist women afterwards:

What struck me most was the energy and passion of this group of 20 or so women. (…) women in this community haven’t always been so vocal - in conservative, rural areas like this, women often play very traditional roles, and stay at home with the family. But now, Hasina and her friends are full of confidence - earning and saving money as day labourers, and providing for their families (…) And, as the floods get more unpredictable, it’s the women who are at the centre of their community’s response.

Bangladeshi Women’s March

Blogger Jess Mccabe also posts on the blog The F Word about Bangladeshi women coming together as an outstanding example of women taking a stand on climate change’s issues:

Back in November 2008, around 2,000 women took to the streets of Dhaka, in Bangadesh, wearing masks of G8 leaders, to call for action on climate change.

(…)

‘Protect our agriculture, protect our country, protect our lives from the damaging effects of climate change', they chanted, waving their fists to make their demands.

Climate Change Rally. Photo by Oxfam and used under a Creative Commons license.

The words of blogger Anushay reflect the positive steps Bangladeshi women have taken towards adaptation to global warming, but outline the urgent need for women around the world to get involved and take a stronger stand:

Back home in Bangladesh, the list of innovative ideas to combat and more importantly, adapt to climate change is endless. (…) But there has to be more. Women may be in the frontlines of climate change, but they are not only its victims. Their personal and intimate experience of the harsh impacts of climate change means that within them lies very real solutions to combat it. If the voices from the women’s rights movement don’t pick up this issue, loudly, clearly and unanimously, climate change will not only drown out countries, but the agents of change, women, with it. And that is simply not an option.

Ecuador: Kichwa Women Oppose Oil Exploration on Native Lands

Belen Bogado — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:31:56 +0000

It is a popular saying in Latin America that women always get what they want. In Sarayaku, Ecuador, women from the Kichwa tribe proved the saying to be true. When an oil company came onto their forest lands for oil exploration for future drilling, the women decided to stop them with a simple but flawless plan.

Photo by Ayahuasca and used under a Creative Commons license.

Esperanza Martinez says on the blog Ecoportal [es], that women told their husbands that if they allowed the companies to work on their lands, they would have to find other women …on different lands. The Kichwas organized a united front against the oil company until it finally had to leave.

This group of Kichwas live in province of Pastaza, on 140 thousand hectares in the Amazon, an area the Ecuadorian Ministry of Mines and Oil identified as Block 23. Several companies attempted to work there throughout the years, but they failed every time due to Kichwa’s opposition to drilling.

Although the decision to resist was made by the entire tribe, women’s participation became a key component. These fearless women will go a long way to preserve the forests and their lands.

Support Women

The blog Observatorio Petrolero Sur [es] publishes what Kichwa leader Franklin Toala said about the role of women during this process:

Uno de los procesos que tuvo Sarayaku, que hay que recalcar, es el magnífico apoyo de las mujeres. La relación que existe entre las mujeres y las comunidades es mucho más fuerte.

One of the processes that Sarayacu went through that needs to be emphasized, is the great support women provided. The relationship between women and the communities is much stronger now.

Ecuadorian newspaper Diario Universal described a chilling scene involving Kichwa women that took place in 2003,when 15 women and children ran for 4 hours through the jungle yelling “anchuri, (get out) anchuri oil companies,” to meet face to face with the oil company’s workers and armed guards. Confrontations took place and eventually the army intervened. But the Kichwas remained on their lands and kept them free of oil drilling.

Petroleum, Climate Change, and Indigenous women

In Ecuador, several regions have already suffered the terrible environmental and health consequences of oil drilling. In Pichincha in the province of Sucumbios, oil drilling has been taking place for 20 years, the air is polluted and the water contaminated because of oil spills. The people have suffered the loss of domestic animals because of drinking contaminated water and the loss of crops because the contaminated land becomes infertile. They are also affected by several skin and respiratory diseases, birth defects, and miscarriages.

Women are once again the most vulnerable to these negative impacts. In petroleum areas of Ecuador the incidence of cancer is three times more comparing to the national average, especially affecting women. Women are in constant contact with contaminated water by washing clothes and bathing their children in the river.

It is no wonder Kichwa women reject oil drilling. They know it will transform their lands, their lives, and the environment for ever.

The Online Community Reacts to the Kichwa Example

Blogger Efren Calapucha shares his feelings on the Kichwa’s stand on the blog Redamazon [es]:

¡Amigos de la Tierra! En este espacio de la selva amazónica con grandes recursos biodiversos se quiere cercenar LA VIDA lo que NO PERMITEREMOS se establezca tan execrable hecho que afectará al Calentamiento Global extinguiéndose los pueblos, la flora y la fauna hasta hoy fortalecidas y guardadas celosamente

Friends of the Earth! In this place in the Amazon rainforest with significant biodiversity resources, LIFE is threatened to be eliminated but we will NOT ALLOW this terrible event to take place here, which will affect climate change; extinguishing communities, fauna and flora, which have been strengthened and safeguarded to this day.

The blog Observatorio Petrolero Sur [es] posts about the remarkable determination of the Kichwas despite the circumstances:

Han pasado dos décadas y hasta el momento la exploración no se concretó, pero la amenaza es permanente. En 20 años pasaron muchas cosas, demandas a nivel nacional e internacional, campañas en un lado y en el otro, y en el territorio la presión fue mucha. Los kichwas sufrieron todo tipo de atropellos, persecuciones e incluso la militarización de Sarayaku; pero siguieron diciendo no.

So far, oil exploration has not occurred, but the threat is constant. Many things have happened over the past 20 years, including national and international lawsuits, campaigns, and there was a lot of pressure. The Kichwas suffered all kinds of abuses, persecutions, and even the militarization of Sarayaku, but they kept saying ‘no.’

The Kichwa community has managed to keep their forests safe so far but the struggle is not over. Of course with Kichwa women among them, they have little to fear.

Watch the Video

A Kichwa child stands defiant with the words “I’m a forest protector” painted on his chest. He appears in the video filmed and posted by Oilwatch, which is about the Sarayaku community’s reaction to the attempt of an oil company to carry out oil exploration in their lands. Click here to watch the video in Spanish.

India: Women Farmers Stand Against Climate Change

Belen Bogado — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:42:18 +0000

A group of women in India have demonstrated that despite the existing gender inequity and their low economic status, they can become a powerful resource to tackle climate change and reduce the emissions that cause it.

In India, the most vulnerable populations to climate change — impoverished communities and women — are being affected first, and the most. For example, Oxfam India’s blog comments about the devastating impact of drought on farmers, and the direct effect on women and children.

In the last 12 years, almost 50 farmers committed suicide every year, one tenth of them being women farmers. (…) Increasing number of farmers started migrating to cities in search of food. And the situation became shocking when trafficking in women and children proliferated in the district.

Gender as a Factor of Vulnerability to Climate Change

It is estimated that women produce over 50% of all food grown worldwide. In India, more than 84% of women are involved in agricultural activities, and as a result they become the greatest victims of climate change’s impact. In addition, gender inequality makes them disproportionately vulnerable to environmental alterations. Blogger Pricilla Stuckey, PhD points out on the blog This Lively Earth that women are unequally affected by climate change:

Discrimination against women also plays an enormous role in how women experience the effects of climate change. In India, for example, where women have seen their crop yields cut in half and the quality of grain diminish because of climate changes, women’s health is impaired from the double whammy of inferior crops and inequality.

Farmer Sita Debi is an example of this. “When there is no rain, we women have to work really hard in the fields to try and grow crops. Our nutrition also suffers because we are the last to eat at the family table. A lot of us are anemic as a result,” she says in the video filmed and posted on the blog Find Your Feet. Other women farmers appear in the video explaining how badly climate change is affecting their lives.

When Women Fight Back

Indian women don’t just sit around waiting to be hit by climate change. They, also, fight back. As shown in the second half of the video, women are developing innovative ways to adapt and help prevent global warming.

As reported in this Inter Press Service article:

Agriculture accounts for at least 20 percent of Indian greenhouse gas emissions, mainly methane emission from paddy fields and cattle and nitrous oxides from fertilisers. According to the 2007 report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), India’s rainfall pattern will be changing disproportionately, with intense rain occurring over fewer days, leading directly to confusion in the agricultural scenario.

Another example of women taking proactive steps to combat climate change is taking place in the village of Bidakanne, where women are growing crops such as linseed, green and chick peas, wheat and other legumes in between the rows of sunflowers, all without water and chemical inputs, such as pesticides.

This type of agricultural activity is especially beneficial to the dalit or broken women, who make up the lowest rung of India's caste system. Through this system, women in the approximately 75 villages in the Medak district can now form associations to sell their crops, as well as gather surplus produce for poorer members. In addition, to using practices to reduce emissions and harmful pollutants, this type of activity also helps reduce poverty.

The leadership and effort of these Indian women has not gone unnoticed within the online community. Shiba Prosad Bhattacharyya comments on the site India Together

Thank you for your column that these women have been profiled here make a case for them being a role model to the world. (…)Food is a human right & not a corporate commodity for speculation.Mother nature does not operate on a boardroom profit.Corporate profit will mearly lead to more food crisis. Through you I am conveying my highest regards to these women leaders who have demonstrated no negative effects on the environment, public health & farming families that food production can be profitable, sustainable and feed all of us.

Latin America: The Rapid Spread of Desertification

Belen Bogado — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:39:01 +0000

Desertification might sound similar to desert, but there is a fundamental difference between the two: while deserts are one of nature’s wonderful formations, desertification is a process of degradation that lands go through after they are affected by climate change, human activities, and natural forces until they eventually become deserts.

Photo by Macnolete and used under a Creative Commons license.

Although the influence of climate change on desertification has not been fully understood yet, according to GreenFacts, it is known that higher temperatures resulting from increased carbon dioxide levels can have a negative impact through increased loss of water from soil and reduced rainfall in drylands. At the same time desertification contributes to climate change by releasing to the atmosphere carbon stored in dryland vegetation and soils.

Desertification is taking its toll worldwide. At this moment it’s destroying harvests, driving up the price of remaining food, and in some areas, animals are dying. People are also being driven away from their homes, as blogger Miguel Angel Alvarado from El Salvador explains about the president’s home needing to be moved because of desertification [es]:

El traslado de casa presidencial, del Barrio san Jacinto al local en donde estaba el Ministerio de Relaciones exteriores, según informes extrajudiciales, obedece a la prevención del ejecutivo ante un posible hundimiento del suelo generado por cárcavas en este sector.

According to non-judicial documents, the relocation of the presidential home from the San Jacinto neighborhood to the area where the Foreign Affairs ministry used to be, was a preventive measure made by the executive branch to avoid a possible sink of the ground as a consequence to the grooves formed there.

The most affected continent is Africa, and this can be seen especially in Kenya, where one of the most susceptible sectors to the effects of desertification and drought are young girls. When the water storage tanks have been used up at Dago Dala Hera orphanage in western Kenya, volunteer mothers and children have to draw unclean water from a nearby river for cooking and drinking. “Going to the river alone late in the evening is making girls more vulnerable to men who can sexually abuse them,” said Edwin Odoyo, whose mother Pamela founded the orphanage.

Even though desertification has its greatest impact in Africa, Latin America’s environmental conditions are also undergoing significant transformations, as discussed recently in the Ninth session of the Conference to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Italian expert Massimo Candelori, representative of the Convention to Combat Desertification, said in an interview with Tierramerica that the situation in Latin America is worrisome considering that there is not enough information about desertification’s scope in the region. “We have no current data. One of the goals discussed during the ninth session was to get indicators that allow us to better understand the situation….the last data we have is from ten years ago” said Candelori.

In Latin American countries where farming and cattle are one of the main sectors of the economy, desertification can be a silent, but dreadful predator. At least 25 percent of the regional territory is already degraded and the population is increasingly becoming concerned about this, as it is reflected in various blogs.

Eco Briefings [pt], a Brazilian blog, points out that Brazilians in the Northeastern region are witnessing an alarming expansion of desertification[pt]:

Mais um alerta está ligado. Temos pouco tempo para corrigir as coisas. (…)

No Brasil a desertificação tem avançado na caatinga, e zonas do polígono da seca no Nordeste e Norte de Minas Gerais, e também em Estados que antes não tinham áreas secas ou desertificadas como o Rio Grande do Sul. O Rio Amazonas viveu já uma grande seca a pouco tempo, grande com mortandade de peixes.

Another alarm is on. We have little time to set things right (…)

In Brazil, desertification has increased in the Caatinga, in the zones of droughts in the Northeast and North of the state of Minas Gerais, as well as in the states that didn’t suffer of droughts nor desertification before like in Rio Grande do Sul. The Amazon River has been through a major drought just a little time ago, with a large amount of fish dying because of this.

Argentina has several areas affected as well. In the region of Valles Aridos, in the Northeast, where the main economic activity is sheep raising, it is stipulated that during the last 100 years at least 180 thousand people had to emigrate [es] (.pdf format). Southern Argentina has not escaped desertification either. Blogger Ailen Romero, comments on the blog Geoperspectivas [es] that in the Patagonia region, the government actions to combat desertification are not enough:

En la Patagonia, la amplitud del problema es de tal magnitud que ha comenzado a adquirir estado público. Pocos ignoran el tema, pero pocos tienen la posibilidad de actuar de alguna forma o con el conocimiento para hacerlo. El problema de la desertificación en el caso de la Patagonia supera a los planes que se han elaborado para combatirlo. Es por eso que no deben ahorrarse esfuerzos, ni limitar la imaginación de soluciones alternativas.”Si la geografía es la manifestación de la sociedad en el espacio físico, un espacio físico deteriorado refleja una sociedad deteriorada” afirman del Valle y Coronato(investigadores del Centro Nacional Patagónico)

In Patagonia, the magnitude of the problem is so wide to the point that the general public has become aware of it. Few people ignore the problem and only a few have the chance or the knowledge to take action. The problem of desertification in Patagonia overcomes the plans that have been elaborated to fight it. That is why efforts shouldn’t be shy, nor limit the imagination to come up with alternative solutions. ‘If geography is the manifestation of a society in the physical space,a deteriorated physical space is the reflection of a deteriorated society, say Valle and Coronato (researchers from the National Center of Patagonia).

In Chile, where 62% of the national territory is already affected by desertification [es], blogger Alfredo Erlwein expressed concern on the blog El Ciudadano [es] (The Citizen) on how little knowledge citizens have about desertification.

Efectivamente la desertificación es el problema ambiental más grave de Chile y muy poco conocido. Existen grandes zonas, como en la costa de la octava región, donde la erosión severa supera el 50% de la superficie: esto es que literalmente más de la mitad de los suelos se ha perdido por completo. En esas zonas se encuentran cárcavas de más de 50 metros de profundidad. Una tasa normal de formación de suelo puede ser de 0.2 cm por año, lo que evidencia la gravedad del asunto.

Desertification is indeed the biggest but least known environmental problem in Chile. There are vast areas, such as the Eight Region’s coast, where the severe erosion exceeds 50 percent of the surface: this means that more than half of the land has been lost, literally. In those areas there are grooves of over 50 meters of depth. A normal range of land formation is of about 0.2. centimetres per year, which proves the severity of the matter.

According to Italian expert Candelori, using soil in the carbon market will help fighting desertification; this can be decided during the Copenhagen conference. The countdown to Copenhagen has begun and the world awaits it.

Translation of Portuguese citation by Diego Casaes

Paraguay: Addressing the Growing Security Concerns

Belen Bogado — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:46:38 +0000

Two former presidential candidates, two current Senators, and some businesspeople have been calling for an impeachment of President Fernando Lugo for his inability to provide security to the country. However, it has been the recent kidnapping of Fidel Zavala, a cattle rancher who has been captive since October 15 and whose kidnappers have demanded a 5 million dollar ransom, which has really stirred up debate about who is ultimately responsible for the security concerns, what steps should be taken to solve the situation, and whether the blame placed on the President is merely a political maneuver by the opposition.

Zavala was kidnapped by the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP for its initials in Spanish), a terrorist group believed to the continuation of the Patria Libre political party. The EPP is also said to have been advised by Colombia's FARC in 2004 in the kidnapping and murder of Cecilia Cubas [es], daughter of former President Raúl Cubas.

President Fernando Lugo outlines security plan. Photo by Fernando Lugo APC and used under a Creative Commons license.

Liberal senator Alfredo Jaeggli said Lugo should face an impeachment [es] because he is not fulfilling his functions as president by not providing security to Paraguayan citizens. The impeachment idea is also supported by Pedro Fadul and Lino Oviedo, both former presidential candidates and Senator Julio Cesar Velázquez.

What places Lugo in an even more difficult position is that the President has been linked to members involved in Cubas' case, to the point that Cecilia’s mother, Mirta Guzinsky, launched a video during the 2008 presidential campaigns asking citizens not to vote for Lugo [es]. The video has now been revived within the online Paraguayan community through collective emails with the subject line: “What if Mirtha Gusinsky was right?” Lugo was the Bishop of San Pedro department in 2004 when he said he had not heard anything about the kidnap, even though the Cubas case was on every single media utlet in the country at that point.

Debates are ongoing both within the high political spheres and among regular Paraguayan citizens. Blogger José Angel López Barrios, comments on his blog that the government is not now nor has never been equipped to fight the increasing kidnap industry [es]:

Sin duda se aúnan un montón de factores en la sucesión de secuestros que nos acorralan, en 8 años hemos tenido por lo menos 100 secuestros y el único factor común destacable es que quienes deben solucionar estos crímenes no están preparados para ello. (…)

La increíble suma solicitada por los mismos (5.000.000 de dólares) revela que atrás de ese pedido existe la idea de financiar las operaciones del grupo clandestino….

There is no doubt that there are many factors that make the kidnaps possible, which have been haunting us, we have had about 100 kidnaps in the last 8 years and the main outstanding factor is that the people who are supposed to be responsible of solving these crimes are not prepared for the task (…)

The unbelievable sum of money requested by the kidnappers (5 million dollars) reveals that behind their request lies the idea of financing more operations for this clandestine group.

Maki Fretez, a blogger who comments on an ABC Color article, says impeachment is fundamental to reestablish security and safety in Paraguay [es]:

Cambiar al presidente en este momento es una cuestion de superviviencia!, de lo contrario hay que apagar las luces y salir del pais cuanto antes. El juicio politico es un mecanismo constitucional por lo que no puede ser considerado irregular…

Changing the president at this moment is a matter of survival! Otherwise we better turn off the lights and leave the country as soon as possible. A political trial is a constitutional mechanism, so it can’t be considered an irregular measure to take.

Others believe the impeachment flag is being used by politicians to favor their parties and personal interests, and that it is neither helping the kidnapped Zavala’s circumstances, nor improving the situation in the country. Blogger and journalist Alfredo Boccia, writes in his blog Antes del Septimo Día [es]:

La mención al juicio político fue azuzada por buena parte de la oposición, por la prensa -que insinuaba que el silencio de Lugo ocultaba algo- y, por supuesto, por el vicepresidente, quien le dio manija a su fastidiosa y autodestructiva tarea de marcar sus diferencias con el presidente.

En momentos en que se imponían la austeridad de palabras y la reflexión prudente, triunfó la descalificación irresponsable y la vocinglería fanática. El que debería ser la principal preocupación de todos -cautivo en condiciones probablemente dramáticas en los montes del Norte- pasó a un segundo plano.

The political trial idea was incited by the opposition and the press – who insinuated that Lugo’s silence meant he was hiding something- and of course, by the vice president who insisted in his auto destructive and irritating function of pointing out his differences with the president.

At times when it is necessary to use trouble-free words and reflect prudently, the irresponsible disqualification and fanatic clamor prevailed. The person who should have been the main concern – probably captive in dramatic conditions in the forest in the North – became a secondary issue.

As Zavala remains captive, the debate over security concerns continues.

Paraguay: As the H1N1 Virus Spreads

Belen Bogado — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:40:58 +0000

Not getting caught in the traffic jam of España Avenue on a weekday at 2 p.m. is a daunting task. That is why seeing the street almost deserted nowadays is stunning for most Paraguayans. “I’ve never seen something quite like this before, everybody is paranoid now,” says blogger Nora Vega, who commutes to downtown Asunción every day. What is keeping Paraguayans inside their houses is the fast spread of H1N1 virus, which has already claimed three lives and infected hundreds of citizens.

Last week the National Congress declared a national health emergency for 90 days and granted an extra 99 billion guaranies (about 20 million dollars) to the health ministry to deal with the swine flu epidemic.

The government is now analyzing the possibility of extending the two-week winter break for schools to prevent more children from getting the virus. The city hall closed several public buildings and theaters for ten days. The action was taken despite Health Minister Esperanza Martinez’s statements, who warned that this type of measures were not effective to stop the spread of the virus in countries such as Mexico and the United States.

Although the health ministry has only confirmed three deaths officially, it is suspected that at least 15 other deaths are related to the virus. So far 114 cases of infections are official, but there are about 700 other suspicious cases. One of the reasons why these cases cannot be confirmed is because of the shortage of materials to perform the analysis.

Other major concern is the scarcity of antibiotics, especially in the private sector. Journalist and blogger Mabel Rehnfeldt on her blog El Dedo en la Llaga [es] shares the frustration of having two daughters infected with the virus:

Cuando el sábado a la mañana el diario ABC trajo en tapa el titular “SALUD DICE QUE TODO ESTA CONTROLADO” la rabia y la impotencia me ganaron.

(…)

Esperanza y equipo: Den un volantazo. Demuestren que no se van a prestar a mentiras oficiales. Si las cosas están descontroladas (ya sea por falta de recursos o porque es difícil controlar una enfermedad como esta en un país pobre e ignorante), digan que no pueden, que no hay recursos, o gente bien entrenada si es que ya los controles les sobrepasan. Hagan que ayudemos desde el sector privado pero no nos digan que todo está bien cuando los monitoreos no están funcionando.

When I saw on page one of ABC newspaper the headline “HEALTH DEPARTMENT CLAIMS THAT EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL” the anger and helplessness overwhelmed me.

(…)

Esperanza (the health minister) and the rest of the team: show us that you won’t be part of the official lies. If things are not under control (because of the lack of resources or because it is difficult to control a disease like this in a poor and ignorant country), say that you can’t handle it, if you feel overpowered by the situation, say that there are no resources or trained professionals. Request help from the private sector, but don’t tell us that everything is ok when the monitoring of the disease is not working.

Senators reacted to the fast spread of the virus by accusing the health ministry of acting inefficiently. Representative José Lopez even suggested that health minister Martinez should face a Congressional hearing. But not everybody agrees with this stand. Blogger and journalist Susana Oviedo, on her blog Sobre el Punto [es], argues that the government representatives are not telling the truth:

Según demostró la ministra, hace tres meses también que están programadas las respuestas para cada fase de esta pandemia en el país, y se había anunciado que julio y agosto serían los meses críticos. …. Pero evidentemente los políticos, en general, y los que ocupan cargos en la administración del Estado, en particular, no prestaron oídos a estos temas. Estaban envueltos en sus pequeñeces, como siempre.

The minister demonstrated that the responses for each phase of the pandemic have already been established three months ago and that it had been announced that the critical months would be July and August….But it is obvious, that politicians in general, and especially the ones who have positions in the government's administration , did not care to listen. They were involved in irrelevant issues, as always.

As the outbreak extends, Paraguay’s challenges to face the AH1N1 virus increase: the hospitals are overcrowded and as a result, patients are waiting in lines for hours.

Paraguay: Referendum on Performance of Congress

Belen Bogado — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:12:13 +0000

President Fernando Lugo has certainly stirred a lot of controversy in his one year in government. Besides acknowledging that he had fathered one son while he was still a bishop, Lugo was recently accused of fathering two more children during the same time. Now a new debate is taking place after Lugo's comments led to speculation that he would like to dissolve the National Congress.

The controversy began when President Lugo announced that the executive branch was analyzing the possibility of holding a referendum to find out what citizens think about the parliament’s performance, arguing that “citizens are wise and critical,” and that the government should listen to them with humility.

Critics took that comment as a sign that Lugo would like to dissolve the Congress, especially considering that the majority of the Parliament opposes Lugo's left-wing ideology. Heated reactions from different sectors followed the executive branch's suggestion. Some supporters, such as the peasant movement leader Elvio Benitez, said that popular movements back the initiative. He went even further, saying that “it would be interesting to have a big broom to brush away those criminals from the parliament.”

Another supporter was Catholic Monsignor Mario Melanio Medina, who said: “Citizens have the right to demonstrate their disapproval of a Parliament that does nothing for the people, but against the people.” Catholic Church's representatives quickly clarified that Medina's remarks don't reflect the church's stand. Medina is also known for previously heading the national commission in charge of investigating the abuses of power committed during Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorship (1954-89).

The negative reactions to the president's comments came mainly from the opposition Colorado party. A colorado senator, Martín Chiola, argued that the referendum would be an excuse for the executive branch’s incompetence .

Citizens also reacted to the controversial proposal. Blogger and journalist Viviana Benitez in her blog Panambi News [es] writes:

Lo de “no responder a los intereses del país” estoy más que de acuerdo con el Mons. Medina, porque en estos casi un año de haber jurado como representantes del pueblo no han rendido informes de sus gestiones. Ojo, no estoy de acuerdo bajo ningún concepto con la disolución del Congreso, pero sí en controlar más a nuestros representantes.

I really agree with Monsignor Medina, who said that the parliament “does not answer to the country’s interest,” because in their first year of being sworn in as the people’s representatives, they have not provided any reports about their activities. Just to clarify, I don’t agree under any circumstances with the dissolution of the Congress, but I do agree with controlling our representatives more.

Blogger and journalist Susana Oviedo, provides another perspective in her blog Sobre el Punto [es]:

Is a referendum the best way to respond to the lack of cooperation that the executive branch finds in the Congress, and in light of its own inability to achieve a minimum consensus with the legislative branch?

It is pointless. This is a distracting element in a country where, if there is something that never changes, it is the terrible impression that Paraguayan citizens have of their National Congress. Several public opinion surveys during the transition period prove so.

Es un referéndum la mejor manera de responder a la falta de acompañamiento que halla el Ejecutivo en el Congreso y ante su propia debilidad para lograr un mínimo de consenso en el Legislativo?

En realidad es un despropósito. Es un elemento distractor, sobre todo, en un país donde si hay algo que no varía es la pésima impresión que tienen los ciudadanos paraguayos del Congreso Nacional. Diversos estudios de opinión pública a lo largo de la transición lo vienen demostrando.

It was Miguel López Perito, Lugo's chief of staff, who denied ever requesting a referendum but claimed they just “analyzed the possibility.” However, he did reiterate that “citizens always have the right to appeal in any way possible to express their critiques to their government representatives.”

The only clear consensus that Paraguayan citizens came to after this debate is that they are far from satisfied with their Parliament’s performance. A referendum to find that out would be just redundant.

Paraguay: Governmental Response to Arrival of H1N1 Virus

Belen Bogado — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:07:29 +0000

In the past few days, new cases of the AH1N1 virus have been confirmed in Paraguay. The cases are citizens who have just come back from trips to Argentina, a place which has now become one of the main sources for the virus transmission in Paraguay. The total people infected rose to 25 according to ABC Color newspaper [es]. So far, there have not been any deaths linked to the virus, and all the people who became infected with the virus presented only symptoms of the normal seasonal flu.

A group of five infected students attend the private school “Santa Clara,” based in the capital, Asuncion. Apparently, the information about the cases detected in the private school was not disclosed until one of the infected students had already recovered from the virus symptoms. Government authorities have said that the names of schools with infected students will not be disclosed to the public. This tightly guarded attitude from health officers and the school’s authorities concerns some citizens. Blogger Mabel Rehnfeldt of El Dedo en la Llaga [es] addressed the situation, both as a journalist and as a mother:

Me pregunto qué pasa con el derecho a saber que tenemos los padres de colegios afectados y no afectados para poder ejercer el deber de precautelar a otros niños y niñas sanos/as?
 Un especialista epidemiólogo, de los mejores que conozco en el país, pidió que se socialice la información, que se colectivice. Aquí no se trata de satanizar ningún colegio -mucho menos dar identidades de los pacientes por el tema de la confidencialidad obligada por el juramento hipocrático- es apenas INFORMAR a la opinión pública en qué colegios ya hay casos sospechosos.

I wonder what is happening with the parents’ right to be informed about the schools that are affected and the ones that are not in order to be able to protect the other healthy children?

An epidemiological expert, one of the best I know in the country, requested that the information be widespread and collected. This is not about demonizing any school – neither to disclose the identities of the patients, because of the confidentiality required by the Hippocratic Oath- it is just about INFORMING the public in which schoolS there are suspected cases.

In contrast with the scarce efforts placed in spreading the information about which schools have the virus, the government is enforcing the implemented measures, such as border control to prevent the spread of the AH1N1 virus in Paraguay. This is what journalist and blogger Gloria Rolon says about her experience [es]:

Es que al descender del avión y abandonar la manga de desembarco, la recepción que le dan a uno es sencillamente sorprendente. Todo, pero absolutamente todo el personal en tierra luce impecables tapabocas y guantes de látex.

Confieso que no sé si las medidas en cuestión serán efectivas o no para evitar un contagio masivo, pero debo reconocer que lo que al principio fue una sorpresa para mí, luego se transformó en una agradable sensación de satisfacción con la tarea desplegada por las autoridades sanitarias en Paraguay.

When I stepped off from the airplane and left the departure area, the reception that one gets is simply amazing. Everyone, but absolutely all of the land personnel look flawless with masks to cover their mouths and latex gloves.

I confess that I don’t know whether the measures are effective or not to avoid the contagion, but I must recognize that what at first was a surprise for me, later became a nice feeling of satisfaction towards the work done by the health authorities of Paraguay.

The swine flu was declared a global pandemic on June 11, 2009. This is the first time in 41 years that the World Health Organization declares the existence of a worldwide pandemic.