Meeting Indians in the middle of a globalized world

Next stop: Campo Nueve. A small town along the country's main east-west connection and all the traffic and mills alongside the street almost make invisible what happened to be here first. About 4000 Indigenas live in the province, in about 40 settlements of which one can find 18 around Campo Nueve. Somewhere on the countryside, with no direct access, no paved roads, no road or settlement signs.

Here, in the middle of nowhere, a developement got a face which I vaguely heard of but which always stood far away. Paraguay, together with foremost Argentina and Brazil, has been experiencing the great world wide boom for soya since two decades. As an alternative for petrol but, first of all, to feed the cows in Europe, the US and China. The price rose incredibly in the last years and therefore it became an unbelievable lucrative business. With all the consequences that are largely critized, the destrucction of forests and the genetic manipulation of the plant by Monsanto and other companies. And here, in Paraguya, the hunger for soya destroyes the basis of life of the Indigenas, too. The land, which oficially belongs to the Indian communities, is used by soya farmers who administer up to 50.000 hectars. Communities that lived from collecting food find nothing in their areas anymore, and there is no work to do in the largely automized agricultural production. The Indigenas belong to the loosers of a development which has just a few winners in a country like Paraguay.




Oguasu, the organisation I was visiting, works for the basic needs of the native communities: education, health, development of agriculture. Since last year and with the support of the worldbank, it also has established a program which tries to give back the country to the Indigenas which legally already belongs to them. What made the whole situation even more absurd: in the region of Campo Nueve, the big landlords are Mennonits which refer to themselves as being Germans. They do speak German, indeed, and my hotel there was called "Hotel Germania". And when I left the place at last, the owner offered me two pieces of land of 3500 and 4000 hectars. Great to grow some eukalyptos! He additionally mentioned that there are some tax laws in Germany which allow to reduce my costs. But so far I hesitated ...

I am writing from a ciber next to the bus station in Asunción and I am up top visit the places in Chaco, Argentina. Since the internet facilities were rare in Paraguay, I couldnt write many mails. As soon as I have better opportunities, I will answer!