These sentences were declared by the actual president, Horacio Cartes. This guy, in front of a businessman assembly said the following: ” Come and Use Paraguay, because this country is the cheap and beautiful hooker of South America”. Indeed, this sentence summarize the actual situation.
After the dictatorship of Stroessner, ending in 1989, Paraguay is actually under a democracy. Of course, we have to speak about a democracy for the benefit of the oligarchy, where all the excesses are allowed. You can just see it when you cross the border, in Ciudad del Este. The craziness of the city makes you walking across the numerous buildings showing the lasts technologies available meanwhile some street sellers try to sell you the worst insanities. The “funniest” thing is: more you go far away from them; more they go to the prohibited. They just start with a shaver and electronic stuffs and they end with cocaine and cheap girls.
We compare this place to the human apocalypse where everybody is here to overconsume at incredible prices. Do not think that they sell low quality products. By the way, they are all authentic (at least for the electronic). Thus, you maybe ask yourself how is it possible but do not forget that we are in Paraguay. All the products are illegally imported from United states or from Asia without paying any tax.
We have to meet Tomas Zaya Royas (Tomas is an activist Marxist socialist, representing the small farmers) in the community: El Triunfo. The firsts kilometers show us a huge contrast with Brazil. Here, people live in rustic wood houses, surrounded by fields. The cows are in the road side. The poverty is everywhere.
The goal of this meeting is to make a documentary about the farmers without land (As this topic is not very appreciated in Paraguay, we tried to hide as well as possible our movie report to avoid the problems)
To understand the agriculture in Paraguay, it is important to start with its beginning. In 1990, the country accounted 65 % of viable farmers. For the reasons mentioned before, year after year, the industry has seriously grown. A lot of Brazilians have crossed the border to get a piece of the tax haven. These ones bought the lands from the Paraguayans farmers (to an elevated price in regards to the economic level). On this way, the big owners got each time more and more land, to finally surround villages of soybean. The spreading of glyphosate took care to kill all the animals. Then, the illnesses and cancers have also appeared. It is on this way that many communities have disappeared. The only opportunity for these people was to escape from the place where they born. Nowadays, this kind of place is just a ghost city. As a result: From the 65 % of farmers in 1990, it just remained 38 % in 2012 with a prevision of 12 % before the year 2030.
Once expulsed, these farmers live together in poor neighborhood where they work for the big land owners. Always at proximity to the poison vapors (As we call here the glyphosate), they are exposed to the illnesses and see the death as a fatality. Sad picture to see all these children playing together and condemned to an early death.
Others are also waiting on the road side. Two years of wait, under plastics roofs, living in unhealthy conditions. The hope of an eventual relocation, which maybe will never happen.
Between these very busy days, we also have the opportunity to attend to a night meeting in Tomas property. The goal: lands reclamation.
There is approximately a hundred people at this meeting and the day after, Tomas is informed by cellphone that one of his enemies was hidden in the meeting. Lie or not, we will never know. Saturday, the day of the lands reclamation which will take place on night. In the morning, we go to Ciudad del Este to get or laptop back which were under reparation. On the way back, we see that one cop’s car is just parked in front of the community. We go to Tomas house and he tell us stressfully: ” It is very late; I was scared that it happened something. Since this morning, the cops have turned all around the community and I thought that they grabbed you to get some information. They know about the land reclamation and we have to cancel the event. They should think that you are some activists. We have to keep quiet ”
8 hours, the phone rings: the head officer from the investigation police. He tells to Tomas that he will visit the community tomorrow in the early morning. It is the first time that we see Tomas with a lot of anxiety. Nobody knows the purpose of this call.
On the same night, we make a double copy of all the report. The atmosphere is tense. Anyway, we will see what happen tomorrow.
The day after, we ride our bike at 7 am. At first glance, there is no cop’s car and we decide to go to the direction of Asuncion city. This encounter ends with this story and we will never have any problem about our documentary.
The road till the North of Paraguay will be made of various friendly encounters and will allow us to try the different plates from this country. The more popular are: la sopa paraguaya ( it Is a cake made of corn and cheese, so strange for a soap), the manioc (consumed during all the meals) and the tortillas (here, it is a paste made of wheat flour, eggs, water and vegetables. The all fried in oil)
On the road, we also have to face the police. A few kilometers before Azetoy, a police roadblock stops us. We answer their traditional questions which always consist in asking us about our itinerary, and since how long are we on the road etc… Then, one of them stipulates that we should have a lot of money and he would like to get a small gift from us. Julien tells him that we do not have any money when suddenly, two guys with huge smiles stop the conversation. One of them explains that his grandfather is also from Belgium. Talking with them, they tell us that they have a company in the mate (local drinkable herbs) production and they offer us numerous boxes to make the famous Terere (Mate herbs mixed with iced water). Without knowing it, they helped us to escape from huge argumentations with the corrupted cops and, furthermore, they offered us a part of the “gift” first dedicated to the police.
Last step towards the north border, separating Paraguay from Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil. The sandy road is without any doubt the funniest one since our entrance in the country. The soybean fields are now converted in livestock. Some strange spikes come out of the land and offer us an amazing landscape.
The road is almost desert and we are aware that we have to stop before the sundown (the road is a main access for the drugs business). At 3pm, we stop to a house to load ours bottles of water. On this way, we are able to cook our dinner. One man asks us with an approximate Spanish: Why do you want to continue? he recommends us to sleep here, because on night it is dangerous and there is absolutely nothing. We accept his invitation and we are invited to celebrate his wife birthday. As always in Paraguay, a group of children are looking at us with a large smile, asking us many things about the stuffs we are taking out from our bags. We spend a very good moment by setting them on our bikes and by taking some pictures.
The day after should be our last in Paraguay. Arrived to Bela Vista, we spend our last guaranis (local money) and cross the border. From the beginning, it is the most ridiculous border we could see. A man is set on a chair and is shooting some pigeons. This one tells us that there is no office to stamp our passports. The only one is located in Ponta Porã, at 150 km from our actual position. Angry, we decide to continue illegally in Brazil. Then, we just pass in front of an office from the military police and we ask them to get more information. After a couple of calls, they indicate us that we are illegal in Brazil. If we do not come back to Ponta Porã, we will have to pay a penalty once we reach the Brazilian border.
Thus, we decide to come back to Paraguay and we are now looking for a place for sleeping and leaving the bikes. We end finally at Luis place. We met him a few hours ago on the same day. What a guy with a huge heart ! First, he welcomes us. Furthermore, he invites us for a dinner and we spend an excellent night in the bar next to his house.
Finally, after one day spent in buses and in administration offices, we get the stamps on our passports and we can continue towards the Brazilian Pantanal.