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TITLE:  PARAGUAY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                            PARAGUAY


Paraguay has been independent since 1811, but until 1989 was
ruled almost continuously by authoritarian regimes.  On August
15, Juan Carlos Wasmosy, Paraguay's first freely elected
civilian President, completed his initial year of a 5-year
term.  Wasmosy pledged to consolidate the nation's democratic
transition, which began following the February 1989 overthrow
of dictator General Alfredo Stroessner.  Paraguay is a
constitutional republic with a strong executive branch and an
increasingly important bicameral legislature.  The President is
the Head of Government and cannot succeed himself.  The
Colorado Party and the armed forces continue to exercise
substantial influence, although the opposition's power has
increased as a result of a combination of the changes brought
about by the June 1992 Constitution and the subsequent election
of a civilian President and an opposition-controlled Congress.

The national police force, under the overall authority of the
Ministry of the Interior, has responsibility for maintaining
internal security and public order.  Police abuses of human
rights, including extrajudicial killings, continued in 1994.
In contrast to previous years, however, the Government did
convict and sentence three police officers for killing
civilians.  Members of the armed forces continued to insert
themselves into the political process, including using their
influence over the courts to ensure decisions that validate
their political activities.  While some military officials
accused of human rights abuses during 1994 were suspended and
investigated, none were arrested, sentenced, or convicted.

Paraguay has a market economy based on the export of primary
agricultural products.  A substantial percentage of the work
force is employed in the informal economy, which may account
for 40 to 60 percent of the gross domestic product.  Efforts to
privatize state-owned enterprises continued in 1994.  Real
economic growth was expected to be about 3.6 percent.

Principal human rights problems included extrajudicial
killings, torture and mistreatment of criminal suspects and
prisoners, police and military corruption, detention of
suspects without judicial orders, general weaknesses within the
judiciary, firings of labor organizers, and military intrusions
into the judicial and political systems.  The Government began
efforts to convict and punish those committing human rights
abuses during the Stroessner era, and the courts sentenced
persons in several such cases in 1994.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

There were at least two extrajudicial killings involving
security force officials, including the shooting of peasant
leader Sebastian Larrosa (reportedly by local police official
Augusto Palacios) and the killing by naval official Walter
Arce, apparently while inebriated, of Leonardo Molinas.  Both
cases remained under investigation at year's end.

In April Elena Cubas killed peasant leader Esteban Balbuena in
Colonia 7 de Agosto, Itapua.  Balbuena was one of the most
visible organizers and participants in local rural worker
organizations and in demonstrations against the Government's
agrarian policy.  Although police officials originally
dismissed the killing as a "crime of passion," when Cubas was
arrested, she originally told police that she followed the
instructions of unnamed officials.  She later recanted, and the
case remained under investigation at year's end.

During the year at least two other peasant leaders were also
killed.  In August several unidentified attackers fought with
and killed German Ayala, a peasant leader in Itapua and a
witness in the Balbuena case.  In April three unknown persons
killed Hilario Sanabria, a peasant leader in Caaguazu, while he
was returning home from a soccer game.  Their associates
asserted that antipeasant vigilante groups were responsible.
There was no indication that the Government investigated these
claims.

In a departure from prior practice, the Government began to
convict and punish police officials who committed serious human
rights abuses.  In April police official Aurelio Enciso was
sentenced to 6 years of prison for the 1991 killing of Juan
Desiderio Ortellado Cardozo, a 14-year-old suspected of
trespassing.  In September police official Marciano Ramon Lopez
Pintos was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the 1989 murders
of Gregorio Bernal and Pablo Gonzalez.  Also in September,
police official Cirilio Paniagua was sentenced to 8 years in
prison for the 1990 killing of Fermina Martinez Velazquez.

     b.  Disappearance

There were no reported cases of abductions by security forces.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

Torture and brutal and degrading treatment of convicted
prisoners and other detainees continued.  Police, military, and
prison guards were implicated in the mistreatment of
individuals in their custody.  Although the authorities
arrested some and held them for investigation and trial, they
actually tried, convicted, or appropriately punished very few.
There were credible reports of mistreatment of women and minors
and of brutal attempts to force confessions out of detainees.

A respected human rights group, Tekojoja, reported that
children in police custody were particularly susceptible to
physical punishment, with torture and abuse occurring against
juveniles at a higher rate than against adult detainees.  The
human rights group accused the police in several cases of
torturing minors by placing plastic bags over their heads,
knocking out their teeth, using a hammer to beat their backs,
or scalding their hands and feet to force a confession.  Many
minors reported being denied food, drink, or access to
bathrooms for up to 3 days.  Both Tekojoja and another
well-known human rights group, the Committee of Churches, filed
charges against several officials for the abuse of minors in
their custody.  None of the many persons charged in court of
torturing minors were convicted during the year.

Prison conditions remained poor.  Overcrowding and mistreatment
of prisoners were the most serious problems.  Conditions were
particularly poor in the Panchito Lopez youth prison.  An
independent investigation of the prison revealed that the
institution was unsanitary, unsafe, and extremely overcrowded;
although originally built as a single family home, the
institution houses between 130 and 150 detainees.  The Tacumbu
men's prison is similarly overcrowded.  The human rights
committee of the Brazilian Attorneys' Association released a
statement declaring that the Paraguayan prisons in Alto Parana
and Canindeyu were "inhuman."  The Government permits
independent monitoring of prison conditions by interested
nongovernmental organizations (NGO's).

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The Constitution prohibits detention without an arrest warrant
signed by a judge and stipulates that any person arrested must
be presented before a judge within 48 hours to make a statement.
The police can arrest persons without a warrant if they catch
them in the act of committing a crime, but must present them
before a judge within 24 hours.  However, the authorities often
violated these provisions.  More than 90 percent of an
estimated 3,000 prisoners are held without arrest warrants,
orders of detention, or convictions.  Courts have passed
sentence on only 6 percent of the detainees at Tacumbu prison,
only 2.5 percent of the detainees at the Buen Pastor women's
prison, and virtually none of the detainees at the Panchito
Lopez juvenile prison.  Although a bail system exists for most
crimes, juveniles cannot post bond.  Furthermore, judges
frequently set bail very high, and many accused are unable to
post bond.

Throughout the year the authorities arrested and imprisoned
individuals without following the constitutional legal
process.  There were a number of cases similar to that of Lucia
Galeano Rivas, who remained imprisoned 4 months without cause.
Galeano Rivas was first imprisoned on the basis of an order
signed by a justice of the peace who did not have the legal
authority to issue such a warrant and which did not specify the
grounds for her arrest.  Almost 3 months later, she appeared
before a criminal court judge who could find no cause for her
imprisonment and released her.  In many other cases, police
officials took persons into custody by without a valid judicial
order and did not present them before a judge for several days.

The Supreme Court, the Public Ministry, and a judicial working
group took steps to reduce the large number of detainees held
without being sentenced or without cause.  During the year,
they reduced the number of criminal cases pending more than
1 year by over 20 percent.  The Supreme Court and many criminal
court judges also made quarterly visits to the prisons to
identify and release improperly held individuals.  In August
the authorities released Isabelino Villalba after he served
20 years in prison without being sentenced.

The Constitution does not expressly prohibit forced exile but
states that all citizens have the right to reside in their
country.

Credible reports continued that landowners, many of them
Brazilians living near the border in the Alto Parana, Canindeyu
and Amambay departments, armed their employees to remove
squatters from their property without court orders.  Some of
the evictions reportedly were violent, and there were
unsubstantiated reports of fatalities.  However, the
authorities undertook no investigation into these incidents.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

The judicial branch is comprised of a five-member Supreme Court
headed by a president.  There are four appellate tribunals:
civil and commercial, criminal, labor, and juvenile.  Several
minor courts and justices of the peace fall within these four
functional areas.  Although the 1992 Constitution stipulates
that all defendants have the right to an attorney at public
expense, if necessary, there are only five public defenders
available to the transient and the indigent.  Many destitute
suspects receive little legal assistance, and few have access
to an attorney sufficiently in advance of the trial to prepare
a defense.  The State is represented by a Public Ministry
official, who is responsible for bringing charges against
accused persons.

Trials are conducted almost exclusively by presentation of
written documents to a judge, who then renders a decision.
Defendants and the State can present written testimony of
witnesses and evidence.  All interested parties have access to
all documents reviewed by the judge, and defendants can rebut
witnesses.  Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence.  The
judge alone determines guilt or innocence and decides
punishment.  During the pretrial phase, the judge receives and
may request investigative reports.  In this phase, the judge is
also likely to make a personal inspection of the scene of the
crime and of the available physical evidence.  The accused
often appears before the court only twice:  to plead and to be
sentenced.  An appellate judge automatically reviews all
verdicts, and the law provides for appeals to the Supreme
Court.  The military has its own judicial system.

Although the 1992 Constitution prescribes that judges be
selected by a combination of an independent Magistrate's
Council, the Congress, and the executive, that body was not
constituted until late October.  Accordingly, many of the
judges active during 1994 were holdover appointments made by
former dictator Alfredo Stroessner serving in an interim
capacity beyond their established 5-year term.  Several of them
were alleged to make judicial decisions on the basis of
bribery, intimidation, political motives, and friendship with
senior military officers and Colorado Party officials.  In
March the President ordered the transfer or retirement of over
70 judges, and he made several judicial appointments by fiat.

Following the December 1992 discovery of government archives
documenting various human rights abuses and implicating many
former government officials of the Stroessner regime, in 1994
the courts convicted several Stroessner-era officials for human
rights abuses and imposed sentences of up to 25 years.  The
Committee of Churches, one of the nation's most prominent human
rights groups, had over 16 cases against alleged Stroessner-era
human rights abusers pending at year's end.

There are no political prisoners, and the Government does not
punish political activity.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

While the Government and its security forces generally did not
interfere in the private lives of citizens, there were
exceptions.  The Constitution provides that police may not
enter private homes except to prevent a crime in progress or
when the police possess a judicial warrant.  There were
credible reports that at times the authorities ignored this
legal guarantee, particularly in the country's interior.  There
were also allegations that the Government occasionally spied on
individuals and monitored communications for political and
security reasons.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

The Constitution provides for freedom of expression and the
press.  The public and the press exercised these rights more
freely than at any time in the nation's recent history.
Opposition viewpoints were freely discussed, and criticism of
the Government was ubiquitous in the media.  On June 9,
President Wasmosy signed the Declaration of Chapultepec
pledging to support freedom of the press.  Nonetheless, there
were some restrictions on expression.  Former presidential
candidate Ricardo Canese was found guilty of criminal slander
and sentenced to 4 months in prison and a $7,000 fine for
accusing President Wasmosy of providing kickbacks to the family
of former dictator Alfredo Stroessner during the construction
of the Itaipu dam.  Canese appealed his conviction, and the
case remained under review at year's end.

Government forces also occasionally inhibited reporting.
During the May 2 general strike, police officials threatened
seven reporters and told them to stop filming a clash between
police and workers in Ciudad del Este.  Gunfire that same day
gravely injured journalist Carlos Mariano Godoy while he was
reporting on striking workers in the town of Tacuara, San
Pedro.  Police officials beat several photographers when they
attempted to photograph a clash between police and striking
workers at an oil plant in Itaugua on August 17.  The Vice
Minister of the Interior met with the photographers and
promised to investigate police behavior.  At year's end,
however, the authorities had taken no action against these
police officials.  In April military officials confiscated
reporter Ismael Villalba's camera and held him for over an
hour, after he tried to photograph a Congressman meeting with a
soldier.  The investigation into the May 1993 election day
attack on independent television Channel 13 continued at year's
end with no suspects having been arrested.

Some reporters were threatened and physically attacked during
1994, although investigative reporting continued.  As in the
past, threats were made against persons examining allegations
of official corruption, the contraband trade, and ties to the
Stroessner regime.

There were no restrictions on academic freedom.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The Constitution establishes the right of association and
peaceful assembly for all citizens, but the security forces
occasionally impeded protest demonstrations.  A law regulating
demonstrations in Asuncion limits the areas where and the hours
when they may take place and requires that organizers notify
the Asuncion police 24 hours before any rally in the downtown
area.  The police may ban a protest but must provide written
notification of such a ban within 12 hours of receipt of the
organizers' request.  Under the law, a police ban is permitted
only if a third party has already given notice of plans for a
similar rally at the same place and time.  In addition, the law
prohibits public meetings or demonstrations in front of the
presidential palace and outside military or police barracks.

Most of the various political and social demonstrations and
rallies occurred without incident.  Some rallies, however,
ended in violent clashes with the police.  During the May 2
general strike, violent incidents occurred in Tacuara, San
Pedro; Fernando de la Mora, Central department; and in Ciudad
del Este, Alto Parana.  The Government also attempted to
inhibit a March 15 peasant rally to protest agrarian policy.
Government forces established roadblocks at key road junctions
leading to Asuncion and caused hours-long delays while police
officials carried out time consuming and uncommon reviews of
vehicle registrations and driver's licenses of persons
transporting peasants to the rally.  The police also detained
many bus passengers traveling to Asuncion.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

The Constitution provides for freedom of conscience for all
persons and recognizes no official religion.  The Government
continued to respect this freedom in 1994.  Roman Catholicism
is the predominant religion, but all denominations are free to
worship as they choose.  Adherence to a particular creed
confers no legal advantage or disadvantage, and foreign and
local missionaries proselytize freely.  All religious groups
must be registered with the Ministry of Education and Worship,
but no controls are imposed on these groups by the Government.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

All citizens travel freely within the country with virtually no
restrictions.  There are no restrictions on foreign travel or
emigration.  There are no established provisions to grant
asylum or refugee status; the Immigration Department determines
each request on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the
Ministries of Foreign Relations and the Interior.  There were
no reports of refugees forced to return to countries in which
they feared persecution.

Section 3  Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
           to Change Their Government

Citizens have the right and ability to change their government
through democratic means.  Multiple parties and candidates
contest the nation's leadership positions.  Three parties
elected candidates to the Congress, and nine candidates ran for
the Presidency in 1993.  The Constitution and the Electoral
Code mandate general elections every 5 years, voting by secret
ballot, and universal suffrage.  The executive and legislative
branches govern the country; opposition political parties
control the Congress.  Debate is free, and the Congress
routinely rejects important government proposals.

Vestiges remain of the Stroessner-era merging of the State and
the ruling Colorado Party.  Throughout the year the press
documented the use of state resources, particularly vehicles,
to support party political rallies.  There were also credible
reports of party officials requiring public employees to attend
party functions.  In addition, the military continued to wield
significant political power.

Members of indigenous groups are entitled to vote, and the
percentage of indigenous people who exercised this privilege
grew dramatically in recent years.  Nonetheless, the
inhabitants of many indigenous communities were threatened or
inhibited from fully exercising their political rights.  Some
were threatened with death or with losing access to
cooperatives and stores unless they supported certain party
officials or practices.

While there are no formal legal impediments, women often face
significant obstacles when they seek to participate in
government and politics.  Participation by women in the
political system, although improved in 1994, was still limited
in the male-dominated society of Paraguay.  Few women serve in
the Congress (3 of 45 Senators and 2 of 80 National Deputies),
or the executive branch.  During the year, the President named
two women to ambassadorial posts, and one woman, the Secretary
for Women's Affairs, serves in the Cabinet.

Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

Several human rights groups operate in Paraguay, including the
Committee of Churches (an interdenominational group that
monitors human rights and provides legal assistance), Prodemos
(a group linked to the Catholic church), Tekojoja (a group
dedicated to protection of children's rights), and the local
chapter of the Association of Latin American Lawyers for the
Defense of Human Rights.  The Government did not restrict the
activities of any human rights groups in 1994.

The office of the Director General of Human Rights, located in
the Ministry of Justice and Labor, continued to sponsor
seminars to promote human rights awareness.  This office has
access to congressional, executive, and judicial authorities.
It does not have subpoena or prosecutorial powers but may
forward information concerning human rights abuses to the
office of the Attorney General for action.  It also serves as a
clearing house for information on human rights and trained
thousands of educators in human rights law in 1994.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

Although the Constitution and other laws prohibit
discrimination, certain groups faced significant discrimination
in practice.

     Women

Exploitation of women, especially teenaged prostitutes,
remained a serious problem.  The municipal health department of
Asuncion reported that 58 percent of the prostitutes in the
capital are minors under 18 years of age.  Police frequently
raided brothels in which minors were employed.  In contrast to
the impunity granted brothel owners in the past, in October the
police arrested several brothel owners, including one former
police commissioner.  However, the courts had sentenced none of
the accused by year's end.

The Government only recently began pressing domestic violence
charges against individuals.  To date, however, the courts have
not yet convicted any perpetrators of violence against women.

The office of the Secretary for Women's Affairs continued to
sponsor programs to enable women to have free and equal access
to employment, social security, housing, ownership of land, and
business opportunities.  However, authorities paid insufficient
attention to sex-related job discrimination.  Some women
complained that job promotions were conditioned upon their
granting sexual favors.

     Children

The Constitution protects certain children's rights, including
a stipulation that parents and the State care for, feed,
educate, and support children.  Nonetheless, approximately
26,000 children work in urban areas as street vendors, shining
shoes, or as prostitutes.  The majority of these children
suffer from malnutrition, lack of access to education, and
disease.  The employers of some young girls working as domestic
servants or nannies deny them access to education and mistreat
them.  Employers sometimes charge those who seek to leave
domestic jobs with robbery and turn them over to the police.

The armed forces Chief of Staff ordered all officers
responsible for recruiting to ensure that all conscripts met
the constitutionally mandated minimum age of 17 for military
service.  Many officers violated this order with impunity,
however, and the military took no disciplinary action against
them.

     Indigenous People

Paraguay has an unassimilated and neglected indigenous
population estimated at 75,000 to 100,000.  Weak organization
and lack of financial resources continued to limit access by
indigenous peoples to the political and economic system.
Indigenous groups relied primarily upon parliamentary
commissions to promote their particular interests,
notwithstanding the fact that the Constitution provides
indigenous people the right to participate in the economic,
social, political, and cultural life of the nation.  The
Constitution also contains protection for their property
interests, but these constitutional rights are still not fully
codified.

The Government's National Indigenous Institute has the
authority to purchase land on behalf of indigenous communities
and to expropriate private property under certain conditions to
establish tribal homelands, but the entity continued to be
poorly funded.  In addition, many indigenous people find it
difficult to travel to the capital to solicit land titles or
process the required documentation associated with land
ownership.  The main problems facing the indigenous population
were lack of education, malnutrition, lack of medical
attention, and economic displacement resulting from development
and modernization.  Despite frequent media attention, little
progress was made in 1994 in dealing with these problems.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

The Korean and Chinese communities experience social and
economic discrimination and are sometimes denied access to
credit terms enjoyed by other Paraguayans.  They are also
sometimes discriminated against in the housing market and do
not have equal access to private institutions and schools.
Although discrimination on the basis of national, racial, or
ethnic background is unconstitutional, the only redress is
through the civil courts.  Because of the costs, standard
length of a civil case (approximately 3 to 4 years), and a lack
of public confidence in those courts by those discriminated
against, most never seek redress in court.  During the year
there were no court judgments in civil cases brought on grounds
of ethnic or racial discrimination.

     People with Disabilities

The 1992 Constitution guarantees equal opportunity to people
with disabilities and mandates that the State provide them with
health care, education, recreation, and professional training.
It further requires that the State formulate a policy for the
prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and integration into
society of people with disabilities.  Legislation establishing
these programs, however, has not yet been enacted.  Many people
with disabilities face significant discrimination in
employment; others are unable to seek employment because of a
lack of accessible public transportation.  Other than the
constitutional provisions establishing equal opportunity,
accessibility for the disabled has not been mandated through
law; the vast majority of the nation's buildings, both public
and private, are inaccessible to people with disabilities.