With peasant farmers threatening land invasions to demand land reform and end perceived environmental abuses, Paraguay’s soybean producers last month staged a two-day demonstration intended to call the government’s attention to rural turmoil. Hundreds of medium- and large-scale soy producers parked their tractors on Dec. 15 and 16 along the sides of the roads in 13 departments, a so-called “tractorazo” aimed at underscoring what they view as the threat peasant demands pose to agricultural production. “We have asked for an end to the assaults on rural farms where working and productive people are confronted every day with threats of invasion, the burning of machinery and the destruction of crops,” read a communiqué by Juan Núñez, president of the Rural Association of Paraguay... [Log in to read more]