This is one of the most important pieces of information gathered from several sources in the area by the International Solidarity Mission that visited Paraguay with representatives of social movements and organizations from several countries. The Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC) Via Campesina and Fian International are some of the organizers. In addition, the Mission was covered by Real World Radio.

The Marina Cue peasants thought they were about to win a nine-year-old battle. This is what Juana Evangelista said to Real World Radio. On June 15th, at around 6 am, she received a call from her husband, Arnaldo Ruiz Diaz, who told her to get ready to celebrate. Hours later, Arnaldo was dead.

Nevertheless, another source pointed out that the landless peasants were informed they could be visited by the police, but decided to stay in the land and resist.

The truth is that on June 15th, at 8 am, a large police operation with 400 police officers resulted in the death of 11 landless peasants. Lidia Ayala, of Britez Cue, close to the site of the massacre, was one of the people who said that the peasants were expecting good news. Lidia lost her husband, Delfin Duarte, and her son Francisco Ayala in the shootings.

Lidia arrived on Thursday to the San Matias chapel in Yvy Pytã, just a few kilometers from Marina Cue. There she spoke to Real World Radio, with the support of Dominga Noguera who translated from Guarani to Spanish and vice versa. Dominga is a member of the Coordination of Peasant Organizations that works for the right to health in Paraguay.

Lidia said that her husband and son had joined the occupation of Marina Cue a month before their deaths. She regretted the fact that they lost their lives for wanting a piece of land. Lidia, such as several of the family members of the murdered peasants, is demanding contested lands which are in the hands of the recently deceased Blas
Riquelme.

Lidia and her husband grew sesame, cotton, corn and cassava, among other crops, in Britez Cue. They also had swine. Their neighbors, as most peasants in the area
do, loaned them lands so that they could produce their own food.

Lidia is facing a terrible family loss, a brutal pain. Her expression and her presence convey that. In order to cope with this, she told us she started raising chicken, always with the support of her neighbors.

Meanwhile, Dominga made an important comment which could also be heard in several of the testimonies gathered by the International Solidarity Mission in Paraguay. Avelino Espínola, a leader who was struggling in Marina Cue since 2003, was a target of the police. The reports point out that he was the first to be shot on June 15th.

Photo: Real World Radio