Pablo Cáceres
Paraguay battles over land rights in the courts and across the airwaves
Monseñor Pablo Cáceres is Vicario General of the Diocese of the Conception, who speaks out about the abuses of the Paraguayan military, particularly in the northern region where military operations are conducted against armed groups, but have left villagers and civilians facing extra-judicial killing, kidnapping, torture and other violence.
Under father Pablo's auspice, the Diocese supports the Peasant and Popular Movements through training in human rights, public denunciation, contacts with by the media and with civil and ecclesial authorities, and the participation in demonstrations and national and Latin American forums.
Human rights defenders and journalists are facing significant insecurity, harassment and killings.
Land rights defenders have faced particularly violent repression. In 2012, one of the lead figures of the land rights movement, Mr Vidal Vega, former head of the Campesinos sin Tierra (Peasants without Land) and a key witness into the Curuguaty massacre, was assassinated in front of his family. According to the Paraguayan Human Rights Coordinator, between 1989 and 2013, 115 land rights defenders from campesino organisations were killed or forcefully disappeared.
Indigenous rights defender and their allies have been the target of threats and judicial harassment.
