New Paraguay leaders promise more free milk

[Judi Lynn]

New Paraguay leaders promise more free milk
May 22, 5:41 PM EDT

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) -- Paraguay exports enough soy, wheat and corn to feed 80 million people, more than 10 times its population, and its rivers provide abundant fresh water. But 14 percent of its children suffer chronic malnutrition, and many others lack clean drinking water.

Public Health Minister Antonio Arbo and Vice President-elect Juan Afara cited these numbers Wednesday in announcing that the incoming government will fight poverty as a top priority.

Arbo said a free milk program that now reaches 25,000 poor children will be extended to 70,000 infants.

Paraguay's census says 39 percent of the country's 6.2 million people live in poverty. The United Nations says it's the result of an economy in which a tiny elite owns nearly all the land and pays no income taxes.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_PARAGUAY_POVERTY?SECTION=HOME&SITE=AP&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

(Short article, no more at link.)

[Catherina]

1. "an economy in which a tiny elite owns nearly all the land and pays no income taxes"

Sounds like all over Latin America.

Paraguay needs to do a lot more. If 6.2 million live in poverty, raising the milk program numbers from 25,000 to 70,000 barely makes a dent. It needs to do a LOT more but that's why President Lugo was ousted.

...
“What lies behind today’s headlines, political fights and struggles for justice in Paraguay is a conflict over access to land; land is power and money for the elites, survival and dignity for the poor, and has been at the center of major political and social battles in Paraguay for decades. In order to understand the crisis in post-coup Paraguay it’s necessary to grasp the political weight of the nation’s soil.”

...

Only two percent of the population owns 85% of all agricultural land. Among the large landowners in Paraguay, foreign farmers own 7,889,128 hectares, or 25%, of farms in Paraguay.

There is no parallel to this in the world: a country that has peacefully “given” to foreigners 25% of its agricultural land. From this total parcel owned by foreigners, Brazilians own 4.8 million hectares.”

...

Links can be drawn between this year’s coup d’état in Paraguay and the 2009 coup in Honduras, both of which were fully supported by an oligarchy of major land holders opposed to land reform. As result, thousands of landless peasants saw their chances to have land disappear. In some cases, like in the Honduran region of Aguan, the struggle for land has resulted in death and intimidation of land rights activists. In Aguan, more than 1,500 families continue their fight for land, even after 60 peasants have been killed.

...

The US government has yet to voice a strong position in opposition to the coup in Paraguay. It failed to take a strong position against the coup in Honduras. Considering the US’s involvement in the Operation Condor that swept aside democracies in South America in the 1970s, it would be a refreshing decision to oppose the overthrow of the democratically elected President Fernando Lugo. It would also seem highly unlikely.

http://blog.whyhunger.org/2012/07/coup-in-paraguay-motivated-by-governments-support-for-peasants-and-land-reform/

[naaman fletcher]

2. huh?

So let me get this straight:

When Lugo was in power he did NOTHING to expand this program.

Now with him out, this program has been almost tripled.

And your conclusion is that Lugo was ousted to prevent him from doing more than almost tripling it?