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Farmers Arrive in Asunción to Denounce 'State Abandonment of the Countryside'
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Elections & Politics

Farmers Arrive in Asunción to Denounce 'State Abandonment of the Countryside'

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Around 200 farmers arrived in Paraguay's capital to protest state neglect of rural areas.
  • They are demanding better attention to rural schools, housing, land access, and government programs.
  • The protest highlights decades of abandonment and calls for equitable social programs.

Approximately 200 farmers converged on Paraguay's capital, Asunción, to voice their grievances over what they describe as the state's neglect of rural communities. The demonstrators are demanding increased attention to rural education, access to adequate housing, land rights, and more effective government support programs.

Organized by the Coordinator of Campesino and Urban Workers (CTCU), the farmers staged a protest outside the Ministry of Urbanism, Housing, and Habitat (MUVH) in downtown Asunción. They plan to maintain their presence until Wednesday. Esther Leiva, a coordinator for the CTCU, expressed frustration over "decades and decades of abandonment by the Paraguayan state in the countryside," and anticipates that at least 500 farmers will join the two-day protest.

We have been experiencing decades and decades of abandonment by the Paraguayan state in the countryside.

— Esther LeivaDescribing the long-standing issues faced by rural communities.

Leiva specifically called on the MUVH to address their request for public housing construction for farmers. She criticized current social programs, alleging they primarily benefit political allies rather than those most in need. "The people who need it most must be socialized, those who also have the right to access decent housing," she asserted.

The people who need it most must be socialized, those who also have the right to access decent housing.

— Esther LeivaDemanding equitable access to housing.

The farmers also plan to visit the Ministry of Education and Sciences to highlight issues in rural schools and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to demand more productive programs. Additionally, they intend to engage with the National Institute for Rural and Land Development (Indert) to address the worsening land problem in Paraguay and ongoing evictions from communities.

The CTCU, an organization representing over 5,000 members across several departments, issued a statement criticizing the use of social assistance programs for partisan political purposes. They advocate for criteria based on need, transparency, and rights. Statistics indicate that 31% of Paraguay's population lives in rural areas, where rural poverty stood at 22.1% in 2025.

social assistance programs should not be used as a tool of partisan politics

— CTCUCriticizing the politicization of social aid.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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