Extractivist depredation and social exclusion with the presence and consent of the state. Subordinate integration of northern Paraguay

Abstract

The violence in northern Paraguay in recent years is attributed to supposed insurgent groups that have the support of the peasant population, a product in turn of the historical absence of the State. However, this explanation overlooks the fact that State power has had an active presence in the area since the colonial era when it put in place mechanisms to protect the territory, then Spanish, against Portuguese encroachment. It also repressed the defense organized by the indigenous people who saw their lands seized by the conquistadors. The Paraguayan State itself later agreed to a subordinate integration of the northern part of the country with Brazil, through road infrastructure works which enabled the establishment of investment of Brazilian and transnational capital. Denunciations of the negative impact of the extraction activities established in the area are presently criminalized and punishable by State security institutions.