Livewire - Amnesty International blogging for human rights

Our report We’re only asking for what is ours was launched this morning in a press conference. The Yakye Axa and Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous communities each designated three people to speak to the press – as part of a panel and in subsequent interviews.

Even without knowing any Guaraní we could understand the power of their words and the passion with which they voiced their demands to the public. We did our best to make sure that the community representatives were the protagonists of the day, although sadly it was difficult to convince many local journalists that they should interview them directly.


After the press conference we walked through the city centre to Paraguay’s Congress building in the blazing sunshine. Members of the communities carried photos and banners picturing their families back home, representing their demands, and demonstrating the international support behind their struggle. As we walked we were accompanied by traditional drumming and singing.

On arrival at the Congress the communities prepared to meet the Presidents of the Chambers of Senators and Deputies, and present them with the 3,175 signatures that Amnesty International had collected on their behalf over the past two months. Both the President of the Chamber of Senators, Enrique González Quintana, and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Enrique Buzarquis Cáceres, are key to achieving the communities’ demands.

A bill to expropriate the lands claimed by the Yakye Axa is before four Senate commissions and according to the judgement of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Paraguayan state should take wider legislative initiatives to ensure that other communities do not have to suffer the same delays and obstacles when making their own land claims.

Enrique González Quintana, who our delegation had met the previous day, reiterated that the bill to expropriate the Yakye Axa lands would be discussed in the relevant commissions. He insisted that he could not take any action on the Sawhoyamaxa case until a similar expropriation bill arrived on his desk.

Sadly, this is not the first time that the communities have had to come to the Congress to raise their voices. After the day’s events were over they told us that they were hopeful that today they may have helped push for a positive outcome, yet the uncertainty of what could come next is obviously of great concern, and the replies given in Congress were not entirely reassuring.

Although undoubtedly we had impact in the media today, and this may help turn the discourse more favourably to their demands, the impact that the communities deserve must be tangible and immediate: the return of their traditional lands. We hope that with Amnesty International’s support today we may have helped communicate the importance that their voices be heard, and shown the Paraguayan State that the international community is watching to see when it will finally complies with the two Inter-American Court judgements in their favour.