Indigenous people have been without access to drinking water for almost 30 years in Villa Hayes, Presidente Hayes Department in Paraguay, Ultima Hora writes:
The indigenous community of Payseyamexyempa’a of the Enxet people, made up of the villages of Colonia 96, Buena Vista and Ana Victoria, located at kilometre 352 of the Pozo Colorado-Concepción road, some 60 kilometres north of the same road in the district of Villa Hayes, department of Presidente Hayes, has been without access to drinking water for almost 30 years. Since 1996, indigenous people have been living in the area without the minimum guarantees of basic services, such as the right to access this vital liquid.
Felipe Peralta, one of the community’s leaders, has made an urgent appeal to the national government to guarantee water of sufficient quality and quantity to everyone living in the area, as it has not rained for months, leaving the streams, tajamares and other reservoirs completely empty. He said:
“People are desperate, they no longer know where or who to turn to for water. They survive on whatever they can get, with children, women and the elderly suffering the most.”
Sonia Galeano, from the village of Colonia 96, said that everything is dry because of the drought and that the children are having a hard time because they no longer know where to turn. The indigenous people are asking the President of the Republic, Santiago Peña, to look into the needs of the indigenous peoples of the Chaco.
Since August 2020, the community has had an injunction from the 24th Civil and Commercial Court of First Instance ordering the National Emergency Secretariat (SEN), the Paraguayan Indigenous Institute (INDI) and the National Sanitation Service (Senasa) of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to provide comprehensive assistance, water of adequate quality and quantity, health care and food, all within a framework of sustainable assistance.
