Paraguay: Information on the Christian Youth Organization and its involvement in land disputes, 1985-1991
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 November 1991 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | PRY9667 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Paraguay: Information on the Christian Youth Organization and its involvement in land disputes, 1985-1991, 1 November 1991, PRY9667, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ab8384.html [accessed 4 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Information on a group with the above-indicated name could not be found among the sources currently available to the IRBDC. It has not been possible, up to this date, to obtain a response on the subject from organizations in Paraguay.
Nevertheless, the attached information may be of interest to you. One of the attachments includes a specific entry on the Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes (ACJ), the Paraguayan affiliate of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) (see Youth Movements of the World).
The other attached documents contain general information on the participation of Christian organizations in the opposition to the military government and in land-related problems. Some organizations that are mentioned as involved in some way with land disputes include the Christian Assistance Program (Programa de Asistencia Cristiano or PAC), the Committee of Churches (Comité de Iglesias), the Rural Assistance Program of the Churches of Itapua (PARII) and Radio Caritas (the radio station of the Catholic Church).
One source states that in the last years of Alfredo Stroessner's regime "the Church re-emerged as a major critic of the regime and as a focus of more widespread dissent" and became part of a consolidated partnership with "other party political, peasant, trade union, student and intellectual forces dedicated to substantial political change" (Mews 1989, 213).
Another source states:
[Some] priests and the growing Catholic Youth movement organized workers and peasants, created Christian Agrarian Leagues and a Christian Workers' Center, and publicized the plight of the Indians (Hanratty 1990, 184).
The same source adds that in the late 1960s the government "disbanded Catholic Youth rallies" adding that in the 1970s the Church "promoted the establishment of peasant cooperatives, sponsored a pastoral program among students in the Catholic University and endorsed the creation of grassroots organizations known as Basic Christian Communities," of which there were some 400 by 1986 (Ibid., 185). The document states that in the late 1980s "the Church was better able to respond in a united manner to criticism and repression by the regime than had been the case in the late 1960s and early 1970s" (Ibid.).
Bibliography
Hanratty, Dennis M. and Sandra W. Meditz, eds. 1990. Paraguay: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Library of Congress.
Mews, Stuart, ed. 1989. Religion in Politics: A World Guide. Chicago/London [U.K.]: St. James Press.
Attachments
Americas Watch. 1986. Paraguay: Latin America's Oldest Dictatorship Under Pressure. Washington, D.C./New York: Americas Watch. Pp. 13-14.
. 1988. Paraguay: Repression in the Countryside. Washington, D.C./ New York: Americas Watch. Pp. 1-5, 37-52.
Angel, William D. 1990. Youth Movements of the World. London [U.K.]: Longman Group UK Limited. Pp. 427-429.
Hanratty, Dennis M. and Sandra W. Meditz, eds. 1990. Paraguay: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Library of Congress.
Pp. 184-187.
Mews, Stuart, ed. 1989. Religion in Politics: A World Guide. Chicago/London [U.K.]: St. James Press. Pp. 211-214.
