Aché Sue Paraguay’s Government over Historic Genocide (US-supported throughout, of course.)
Last edited Sun Jul 6, 2014, 12:58 AM - Edit history (2)
Aché Sue Paraguay’s Government over Historic Genocide
by Survival International / July 3rd, 2014
The survivors of a South American tribe which was decimated during the 1950s and 60s are taking Paraguay’s government to court over the genocide they suffered.
The case of the hunter-gatherer Aché tribe, who roamed the hilly forests of eastern Paraguay until being brutally forced out, became notorious in the 1970s.
As the agricultural expansion into eastern Paraguay gathered pace from the 1950s, the Aché found themselves forced to defend their land from an ever-increasing colonist population. These colonists soon started to mount raiding parties to kill the male Aché: women and children were usually captured and sold as slaves.
One of the most notorious hunters of the Aché was Manuel Jesús Pereira, a local landowner. He was an employee of Paraguay’s Native Affairs Department, and his farm was turned into an Aché “reservation”, to which captured Aché were transported. Beatings and rape were common. Countless others died of respiratory diseases. The Director of the Native Affairs Department was a frequent visitor, and also sold Aché slaves himself.
This situation was denounced by several anthropologists in Paraguay, many of whom were deported, or lost their jobs, as a result. It was brought to international attention by German anthropologist Mark Münzel. His 1973 report Genocide in Paraguay, published by the Danish organization IWGIA, documented many of the atrocities committed against the Aché.
Survival International publicized Münzel’s account, and sponsored an investigation by leading international lawyer Professor Richard Arens, who found the situation as bad as others had reported. Many other international organizations, academics and activists denounced the atrocities and called for Paraguay’s government to be held to account, which curbed some of the worst excesses.
More:
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/07/ache-sue-paraguays-government-over-historic-genocide/
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(This image of the man with feathers attached to his chest indicates he is observing a tradition among the Ache people in ritual admission they are close to dying. It is a tradition revealed in one of the mentioned papers added below, which are only readable at their links.)[/center]
Thumbnail definition of the US-supported fascist dictator Alfredo Stroessner who devastated the Ache citizens:
ALFREDO STROESSNER
President of Paraguay
Alfredo Stroessner seized power in Paraguay in 1954. European correspondents who visited Paraguay during his rule used the term the "poor man's Nazi regime" to describe the Paraguayan government. Of German descent, Stroessner was a great admirer of Nazism, and this showed not only in the refuge he offered to many Nazi war criminals, such as Joseph Mengele, but also in his ruthless methods.
From the Nazis the Paraguayan military learned the art of genocide. The native Ache Indians were in the way of progress, progress represented by American and European corporations who planned to exploit the nation's forests, mines, and grazing lands. The Indians were hunted down, parents killed, and children sold into slavery. Survivors were herded into reservations headed by American fundamentalist missionaries, some of whom had participated in the hunts.
Between 1962 and 1975, Paraguay received $146 million in U.S. aid. Paraguayan officials seemingly wanted more, however, for in 1971, high ranking members of the regime were implicated in the Marseilles drug ring, with Paraguay their transfer point for shipments from France to the US. In the 1980s, America finally condemned Paraguayan civil rights abuses and drug trafficking. Stroessner still looked as if he'd be dictator for life, but in 1988 one of his closest generals, Andres Rodriguez, a known drug dealer, took over after a coup. Rodriguez promised to restore democracy, and President Bush called the 1989 elections a democratic opening, but opponents declared them a massive fraud. Rodriguez's Colorado party won 74% of the vote. Stroessner took refuge in Brasilia, Brazil. He still lives there, in comfort.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html
(It should be added that since this old description of Stroessner was published, Alfredo Stroessner finally did the right thing and died.)
Please see "The Denial of Genocide:"
http://assets.survivalinternational.org/documents/141/denial-of-genocide.pdf
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Please see the article at the link. It doesn't copy and paste well.
Mark Munzel: The Ache Indians :Genocide in Paraguay
More:
http://www.iwgia.org/iwgia_files_publications_files/Ache_Doc1.pdf
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This is an excerpt from a book written in French. (Maybe it will start becoming easier to understand why information on this subject is hard to locate)
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jsa_0037-9174_1978_num_65_1_2165_t1_0263_0000_2
[center]~ ~ ~[/center]Paraguay: indigenous Aché people charge genocide
Submitted by WW4 Report on Wed, 04/09/2014 - 20:41 Southern Cone
The Aché indigenous people of Paraguay on April 8 brought suit in a court in Argentina demanding reparations for "genocide" carried out under the late Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner. The Aché are being represented by Spanish jurist Baltasar Garzón, and chose to bring the case in Argentina under the doctrine of "universal jurisdiction" for crimes against humanity, asserting that justice is not possible in Paraguay's own courts. "We still feel enormous pain in our hearts and minds," said Aché leader Ceferino Kreigi Duarte in a press conference announcing the suit. "For this reason we today demand the Paraguayan state must answer for all this damage, not only to our community but to all the peoples of Paraguay who were victims of the dictatorship." Under Stroessner's 1954-1989 rule, the Aché people, who live in the riverine forests of Paraguay's east, saw their population diminish by 60% due to forced relocations, seizures of their traditional lands, and abduction of the young to serve as virtual slaves in domestic labor. Most of the population plunge took place during five years in the early 1970s. (AP via Excélsior, Mexico; EFE via Radio Caracol, Colombia, April 8)
http://ww4report.com/node/13135
More:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/110828940d
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I'd like to mention it is a real mystery that Alberto Stroessner ruled over Paraguay personally for over 35 years, and we NEVER heard a peep about it, even though he harbored Dr. Mengele, and arch-villain monster who experimented in fiendish ways upon the prisoners of Auschwitz during World War II.
Deeply strange.
