The Yshir indigenous people and the struggle for land in the Paraguayan Chaco

Abstract

This investigation analyzes an experience
of defense and territorial claim of the Yshir
indigenous people in the face of structural discrimination and the dispossession of
lands called Eshma or Puerto Ramos. It
asks how a conflict over the land negatively impacts in different dimensions of life in
an indigenous communities and at the same
time the actions carried out by the Unión de
Comunidades de la Nación Yshir (UCINY)
for the recovery of this part of its territory.
The methodological design is qualitative
and the research techniques combine field
notes with in-depth interviews with political and spiritual leaders of the Yshir indigenous people. As a result, it can be noted
that the presence of Yshir communities represents a physical barrier to the expansion
of economic activities extractive of natural
resources. This right to recover the lands
in question is established not only in the
Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay,
but also in international human rights law,
independently of the need to reform Law
904/81 based on the standards imposed by
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.