On Jan. 15, union leaders and members of the Confédération Paysanne held protests in opposition to the EU-Mercosur Deal, signed in December 2024 but still pending ratification, which would reduce tariffs and more deeply link the European market with the bloc of South American nations. Participants unfurled banners in offices of the Agriculture Ministry in protest of the agreement.

Protesters included a large delegation from the French overseas departments and regions of Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion and Mayotte, who denounced unfair competition from imports that would be imposed under the agreement. Three key spokespersons were among those arrested.

The experts warned that arresting and charging peaceful protesters may violate thr freedoms of assembly, expression and association, enshrined in both the French Constitution and international law. According to farmer advocate groups, use of the BRAV-M—a special motorized anti-riot unit—to quell the protest signaled criminalization of peaceful assembly, raising concerns about proportionality and necessity of police force.

The EU-Mercosur Deal is a free-trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur bloc nations of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The agreement, which has been debated for 25 years, would connect South American farmers with millions of EU consumers. However, domestic producers in France fear the deal will undercut them and drive them out of the market.

The European Parliament voted on the agreement on Jan. 21, with 334 votes in favor and 324 against, although it still awaits ratification by EU member states. Many French  lawmakers have resisted ratifying the agreement unless it includes safeguards for European farmers, environmental protections, and regulatory parity.

Farmer and agricultural worker advocate groups like La Via Campesina, Serikat Petani Indonesia (Indonesian Peasants’ Union), the Kenyan Peasants League, European Coordination Via Campesina and the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations have condemned the detentions and called on French authorities to cease what they describe as “the criminalization of peasant movements.”

From JURIST, Jan. 27. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Photo: UN Human Rights Council via Twitter

For two weeks, officers conducted border inspections, river patrols, and forest monitoring using helicopters and satellite technology. Their efforts were concentrated along key areas of the Paraná River, including regions near the Itaipu power plant, the International Friendship Bridge, the Integration Bridge and the mouth of the Monday River, as well as the Moisés Bertoni Natural Monument located south of Presidente Franco .

The Paraguayan government stated that the operation’s main goals were to reduce the impact of forestry crimes, strengthen control in the most vulnerable areas, and better protect the country’s natural resources. Authorities also prioritized strategic planning for future actions by mapping potentially vulnerable locations, ensuring more effective prevention of environmental crimes.

In the operation, Paraguayan authorities identified 28 distinct criminal offenses, resulting in the seizure of 1,000 logs and 250 posts of quebracho wood, a species known for its significant commercial value. INTERPOL facilitated extradition proceedings, successfully returning a fugitive wanted under an INTERPOL Red Notice for fraud to Brazil, while another individual was sent back to Brazil to serve a 15-year prison sentence for charges of drug and arms trafficking.

INTERPOL’s assistant director for environmental security, Kat Henn, stressed the need for multi-agency cooperation, stating:

Illegal deforestation, which ranges from document fraud to money laundering and corruption. We need continued cross-border cooperation and intelligence sharing to dismantle these criminal networks that profit by ravaging our environment.

The operation was carried out under the Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP), a joint effort supported by Norway’s International Climate and Forests Initiative (NICFI) and the US Forest Service, demonstrating a strong international commitment to tackling environmental crimes that jeopardize biodiversity, harm communities, and threaten sustainable trade.

Deforestation in the Paraguayan Chaco, on the other side of the country, also remains a major concern. In 2019, it peaked with approximately 244,324 hectares lost, representing 78% of the forest at that time. This deforestation is driven by large-scale cattle ranching and soybean farming, threatening biodiversity, climate stability, and indigenous communities, such as the Ayoreo Totobiegosode. According to Global Witness, if current trends continue, the Chaco could disappear entirely by 2080, leading to severe environmental and social impacts.

From JURIST, Dec. 17. Used with permission.

See our last reports on the Tri-Border Region, the Chaco, and the Ayoreo.

Photo: Ilosuna via Wikimedia Commons

“We have Hezbollah cells on the Triple Border. But it is on the Bolivian border where we see the highest level of alert and security in the country, because there has been a memorandum signed by Bolivia and Iran,” Bullrich said in comments to La Nación. “That pact allowed the presence of Iranian members of the Quds forces, which are combatant forces and are integrated into Iran’s armed branches, in the territory. We are investigating whether there are people who do not speak Spanish yet have Bolivian passports.” (Voz Media)

Following years of closer ties, including security cooperation, Bolivia and Iran signed a formal defense pact in July 2023. The deal was said to include an Iranian pledge to provide Bolivia with drones for narcotics enforcement, but the terms were secretive, with both Argentina and the Bolivian opposition demanding clarity on the details. (ToI)

The new border security measures follow a development in two long-languishing terrorism cases in Argentina. On April 4, Argentina’s Federal Criminal Court of Cassation formally affirmed that the deadly attacks on Buenos Aires’ AMIA Jewish community center in 1994 and the Israeli embassy in 1992 were carried out by Hezbollah, with  the complicity of the Iranian government. The ruling also declared that both episodes should be considered “crimes against humanity,” thus placing them beyond the statute of limitations despite the lack of progress in these cases. The ruling also labeled Iran a “terrorist state.”

The court recalled that there are Interpol arrest warrants in connection with these cases for former Iranian intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohsen Rezaee (also rendered Rezai), former IRGC Quds Force commander Ahmad Vadidi (also rendered Vahidi), former cultural affairs officer at the Iranian embassy in Argentina Moshen Rabbani, former diplomatic secretary Ahnmad Reza Ashgari, and alleged Hezbollah operatives Hussein Mounir Mouzannar, Salman Raouf Salman (AKA Samuel Salman El Reda), and Farouk Abdul Hay Omairi.

Tehran’s former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati and former Iranian ambassador Hadi Soleimpenpour are also suspected of involvement but have immunity from the issuance of Interpol warrants because they still hold public office. Three additional suspects are either dead or presumed dead—former Hezbollah foreign intelligence chief Imad Fayez Moughnieh (also rendered Mughniyeh), former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and alleged Hezbollah operative Alí Hussein Abdallah. (BA Times, JP)

Photo: Khamenei.ir via Wikimedia Commons

“For indigenous peoples, their lands represent their home, culture and community. Serious environmental damages have severe impacts on indigenous people’s family life, tradition, identity and even lead to the disappearance of their community. It dramatically harms the existence of the culture of the group as a whole,” said Committee member Hélène Tigroudja.

The decision stems from a complaint filed more than a decade ago on behalf of some 200 Ava Guarani people of the Campo Agua’e indigenous community, located in Curuguaty district of eastern Paraguay. The area where they live is surrounded by large commercial farms which produce genetically modified soybeans, with heavy use of aerial pesticide spraying. Fumigation wth dangerous pesticides took place continuously for more than 10 years, affecting the indigenous community’s whole way of life, killing livestock, contaminating waterways. and harming people’s health.

The damage also had severe intangible repercussions, according to the UN committee. The disappearance of natural resources needed for hunting, fishing and foraging resulted in the loss of traditional knowledge. For example, ceremonial baptism (mitãkarai) is no longer taking place, as necessary materials no longer exist.

“By halting such ceremonies, children are denied a rite crucial to strengthening their cultural identity,” the Committee said. “Most alarmingly, the indigenous community structure is being eroded and disintegrated as families are forced to leave their land.”

Members found Paraguay did not adequately monitor the fumigation and failed to prevent contamination, adding that “this failure in its duty to provide protection made it possible for the large-scale, illegal fumigation to continue for many years, destroying all components of the indigenous people’s family life and home.”

The Committee recommended that Paraguay complete criminal and administrative proceedings against all parties responsible and make full reparation to the victims. Authorities are also urged to take all necessary measures, in close consultation with the indigenous community, to repair the environmental damage, and to work to prevent similar violations from occurring in the future. (UN News)

Photo: WHO via UN News

Protests are being organized under the hashtag #EstoyParaElMarzoParaguayo2021, or “I am for the Paraguayan March 2021.” This is a reference to several political upheavals in the country’s history that took place in the month of March: the 1947 military rebellion against a Colorado Party dictatorship, which sparked a brief civil war; the 1999 “Marzo Paraguayo” popular uprising against another corrupt government of the still-ruling Colorado Party, which did succeed in forcing the resignation of the president, and the exile and later imprisonment of longtime party patriarch Lino Oviedo; and the 2017 protests against the attempt of yet another Colorado Party president, Horacio Cartes, to change the constitution to allow him to stand for another term of office. (Telam, AFP, NYT, Rio Times, In Defense of Marxism)

Deadly prison uprising
Two weeks before the current protest wave began, Latin America’s deepening prison crisis saw its latest irruption in Paraguay, A riot at the country’s largest penitentiary, Tacumbú in Asunción, left six inmates dead—including three by decapitation. Several guards were also taken hostage before the uprising was put down at the dangerously overcrowded facility. Authorities said the riot began with fighting between members of the local Paraguayan crime network, the Clan Rotela, and followers of Brazil’s more powerful criminal machine, the First Capital Command. (Daily Mail, Feb. 18; El País, Feb. 17)

Photo via Twitter

The trial began in 2015, after years of pressure from the families of the victims who were kidnapped and assassinated. Only one of the 24 convicted and sentenced to life is in Italy. The other 23 were sentenced in absentia, and some are already serving prison time in their home countries. While Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to a fair trial, the European Court of Human Rights has found that a trial in absentiadoes not infringe this right, provided that specific conditions are met. Those accused must have “effective knowledge of the proceeding,” they must be “legally represented and have effective assistance of counsel,” and they should have “the right to retrial.”

Among those sentenced were Peruvian ex-president Francisco Morales Bermudez, former Bolivian interior ministor Luis Arce Gomez, former Uruguayan foreign minister Juan Carlos Blanco, and Pedro Espinoza Bravo, a former deputy intelligence chief from Chile. The only defendant who attended the trial was Jorge Troccoli, an exiled Uruguayan army officer with Italian citizenship, who had been previously cleared but faced a retrial.

Before the sentences can be carried out, the ruling must be confirmed by the Supreme Court of Cassation, which considers whether the judgements made by other courts were reached in accordance with the law.

From Jurist, July 9. Used with permission.

Opponents of the term-limit lift assert that it is unconstitutional, including Senate President Roberto Acevedo of the opposition Authentic Radical Liberal Party, who argued that the means used to bring the amendment to a vote violated Senate rules.

From Jurist, April 1. Used with permission.

Among the accused is a young man who was a minor at the time of the massacre, and who the Paraguay Human Rights Coordinator (CODEHUPY) says is being tried in violation of international legal norms. (Ultima Hora, July 8)

Chile, El Salvador and Peru called their ambassadors home for consultations on July 29; Ecuador had already recalled its ambassador on July 17, followed by Brazil on July 24. While it condemned the firing of rockets into Israel by the Gaza-based Hamas organization, the center-left government of Chilean president Michelle Bachelet denounced Israeli attacks on the Palestinians as "collective punishment," saying they "violate the principle of proportionality in the use of force, an indispensable requirement for the justification of legitimate defense." El Salvador's center-left government said it was responding to "the serious escalation in violence and the realization of indiscriminate bombing from Israel into the Gaza Strip," while Peru's centrist government charged that Israel's actions "constitute a new and reiterated violation of the basic norms of international humanitarian law."

Also on July 29, four of the five members of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur)—Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela—issued a joint statement during a summit held in Caracas saying they "energetically condemn the disproportionate use of force by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, which in the majority affects civilians, including children and women." Argentina and Uruguay didn't recall their ambassadors, but the left-leaning government of Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner issued a statement expressing concern over the safety of an Argentine priest working in Gaza and that of 30 disabled children, nine elderly people and six nuns in his care. Venezuela broke off relations with Israel over a similar Israeli operation in Gaza in 2009; it is planning to send humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory now.

On July 30 the rightwing government of Paraguay, the one Mercosur member that didn't join in the statement, called for "an immediate end to aggression and hostilities" in the Gaza Strip. The center-right government of Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos also seemed to be moving away from support of Israel. In a July 10 press release Colombia had condemned "acts of violence and terrorism against Israel," without mentioning Israeli operations, but a July 22 statement from the Foreign Ministry said Colombia "rejects the military offensive by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip" and expresses condolences for "victims of Israel's retaliatory actions."

The harshest condemnation of Israel's actions came from center-left Bolivian president Evo Morales, who on July 30 described Israel as a "terrorist state." He announced that his government was cancelling an agreement that had been in effect since 1972 allowing Israelis to visit without a visa requirement. Bolivia has had limited diplomatic ties with Israel since 2009, when Morales' government restricted relations to protest the Gaza operation then.

With the strong statements from its governments, Latin America "has set itself apart from other regional blocs," according to Michael Shifter, the president of the centrist Washington, DC-based think tank Inter-American Dialogue. The "emerging consensus condemning Israel for its military actions in Gaza is not surprising," he said, given that 11 Latin American governments had recognized Palestine as a state by 2011. Farid Kahhat, a political scientist and Middle East expert with the Catholic University of Peru, noted that now "[i]t isn't only the nations with left-leaning governments that have recalled their ambassadors… This transcends ideologies."

The Israeli government continued to react angrily to the protests from Latin America. "Israel expresses its deep disappointment with the hasty decision of the governments of El Salvador, Peru and Chile to recall their ambassadors for consultations," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor said on July 30. "This step constitutes encouragement for Hamas, a group recognized as a terror organization by many countries around the world." The statement was more moderate than Palmor's dismissal of Brazil a week earlier as a "diplomatic dwarf," a remark that led the Brazilian Jewish Confederation (CONIB), an umbrella body of Brazilian Jewish groups, to apologize to the government of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff on July 24. CONIB itself had charged that Rousseff's administration had "a one-sided attitude to the conflict in Gaza in which the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticizes Israel and ignores the actions of the terrorist group Hamas," but CONIB president Claudio Lottenberg called Palmor's comments, which included a sneer at the Brazilian soccer team, "very unfortunate." "Brazil has the right to express its point of view," Lottenberg said. (Haaretz, Israel, July 24, from Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 30 from staff; Wall Street Journal, July 30; Latin American Herald Tribune, July 30, from EFE; The Americas Blog, July 31)

From Weekly News Update on the Americas, August 3.