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Among the local private organizations that attempt to protect individual liberties in Paraguay are the Paraguayan Human Rights Commission, the Union of Paraguayan Women, the Paraguayan chapter of the Association of Latin American Lawyers for the Defense of Human Rights, and the Inter-Faith Committee,
The opposition political composed of three church groups. parties also express support for the development of democracy in Paraguay and involve themselves in humanitarian concerns. These organizations publicize alleged human rights violations in Paraguay with press releases to the local newspapers, and they are active in human rights matters and issues such as land tenure. Their efforts have secured the release of a number of detainees. Human rights activists in Paraguay have been subjected to police harassment and occasional mistreatment by the police, had their telephones disconnected, been denied passports, and had their private correspondence either
However, the Human confiscated or opened prior to delivery.
Rights Congress, held in October 1982, was conducted without significant harassment and widely publicized within Paraguay.
4. Economic, Social, and Cultural Situation
The socio-economic situation in Paraguay has been influenced principally by the country's geographic isolation, its rich agricultural land and plentiful water supplies in the eastern
Paraguay's half of the country, and its small population. isolation has engendered self-reliance and contributed to the development of a distinctive Paraguayan way of dealing with economic and social problems which, while highly centralized at the national level, does leave economic development and social
The country's isolation welfare initiatives to local entities.
also
has also slowed the introduction of new technologies and customs which resulted in a relatively slower rate of
The presence of two much larger socio-economic development. and economically powerful neighbors, Brazil and Argentina, affected Paraguay's ability to develop export markets and
Paraguay remains dependent on production capacity. agriculture, which in 1981 constituted 30.8 percent of the gross domestic product.
The country's population, 3.1 million in 1981, is small in relation to its land area, 157,047 sq. miles, about the size of California. The rate of population growth is 2.9 percent per year. While Paraguay's small population has impeded the development of large domestic markets for Paraguay's products, it has made possible, with relatively low social strain, the development of a reasonably effective government land redistribution program. According to the Institute of Rural Welfare, the program has settled more than 312,000 previously landless families in almost 600 new agricultural settlements covering a total area of six million hectares, an average of 20
Critics believe these statistics are hectares per family. exaggerated, but most agree the program has had a major impact on the rural sector.
Paraguay's isolation and its extreme dependence on agriculture were altered irrevocably during the last decade when it embarked on an ambitious hydroelectric development program on the Parana River at the southeast frontier with Brazil and Argentina. The Itaipu Dam project, a joint
Paraguayan-Brazilian venture, will be the largest hydroelectric project in the world, with over 12,600 megawatts of capacity. Half of this energy will be available for Paraguay's use. Alternatively, Paraguay may sell its share to Brazil, earning
The two other hydroelectic $100 million or more per year.
projects, including the huge Yacyreta Dam planned with Argentina, are progressing slowly.
The inflow of capital into Paraguay as a result of construction at Itaipu and the greatly expanded production of cash crops, particularly cotton and soybeans, has increased sharply the annual per capita income, from $260 in 1970 to $1,342 in 1980.