CUSLAR and the Cornell Latin American Studies Program Seminar Series present:
¿Qué pasó en Curuguaty?
People demand to know what really happened in Curuguaty, where land disputes led to a massacre and triggered a coup in Paraguay in 2012. Justice has yet to be served.
Explaining the case and its significance for the region will be:
Mirta Moragas Moreles
Lawyer and leader in human rights and feminist issues in Paraguay
Defense counsel for an adolescent girl charged in the Curuguaty massacre
Latin American Studies Program Seminar Series
Monday, April 14, 2014
12:15 – 1:15 pm
Uris Hall 153, Cornell University
https://www.facebook.com/events/668801503179246/
With an introduction by
José Tomás Sánchez
Graduate student at the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs
Chief of Cabinet for the Minister of Public Function in Paraguay until 2012
More information on the case:
Justice obstructed after massacre of peasants and police in Paraguay
What happened at Marina Kue? This question has become the rallying cry of civil society and international human rights organizations, who want a full investigation into the deaths of 11 peasants and six police officers on June 15, 2012 on Paraguayan state-owned land.
Many analysts say this massacre is yet another example of Paraguay’s long history of injustice around the land distribution in the country. Others add that the event was planned to create a political crisis for President Fernando Lugo, who in 2008 defeated the conservative Colorado Party after 61 years of rule. The tragedy of Marina Kue was used to force an unconstitutional impeachment against Lugo. For all of these reasons, the case deserves a full and proper investigation, which is far from reality now.
Here is what we know about what happened: More than 300 police officers in riot gear arrived on June 15, 2012 to expel a group of 60 landless farmers, including women, children and elders, who had occupied a piece of land months earlier.
The police had orders to use force against the peasants in case of resistance, as was done throughout the past decade on the land that politician and businessman Blas N. Riquelme claimed was his.
Read more here:
Committee on U.S./Latin American Relations 
The judge (Rachid) assigned to the case is was a close friend of the late Blas Riquelme and he is not interested in clarifying the massacre; he is bent on prosecuting the peasants. A video that recorded the event from a helicopter “has disappeared” or “erased” while it was in the possession of the authorities. There heavier weapons than the ones used by the peasants involved in the massacre …it appears that those were used to kill the occupants of the land in dispute