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Curuguaty Massacre
In 2012, a confrontation between police officers and campesinos near the community Marina Kue, in the district of Curuguaty, department of Canindeyú, Paraguay, lead to a political crisis within the country which culminated in the impeachment of President Fernando Lugo.

The Massacre
Six police officers and eleven civilians were killed, and over 80 people were wounded in the conflict known as the ‘massacre at Curuguaty.’ Approximately 100 rural families had been occupying the land for three weeks when 324 armed police officers entered the site on the afternoon of June 15, 2012 with the intention of evicting the occupying farmers. Approximately 70 campesinos refused to leave the property until the police presented a property title. The interaction between the police and campesinos culminated in a violent clash.

Land Claim Dispute
The land at Marina Kue includes approximately 5,000 acres of disputed territory known as Compos Morombi. During the Stroessner Dictatorship, roughly 25% of fertile Paraguayan land in the countryside was gifted or sold at trivial cost to large business operators and government and military officials. As rural Paraguayans hold a Lockean view of land ownership, many refer to these titles as “tierra malhabida” or “ill-gotten land”. While Former Colorado party Senator Blas Riquelme claimed ownership of the Campos Morombi, campesinos claim that the land was illegally obtained and, as such was required by law to be redistributed by the government.

Political Outcomes
One week after the incident, the lower-house of the Paraguayan Congress initiated the impeachment of Fernando Lugo in a 76-1 vote followed the next day by a 39-4 confirmation vote by the Senate. The congress utilized article 225 of the Paraguayan Constitution, which allows for impeachment of a president based on “mal desempeño de sus funciones” or “poor performance of duties” and cited Lugo’s failure to prevent the deaths at Curuguaty as the principal evidence for the impeachment process. The conservative Colorado party held a majority in both the June 2012 senate and congress and President Lugo represented the opposing Liberal party. The impeachment consolidated Colorado party and is considered by some political scientists to have been a “parliamentary coup”.

Juridical Proceedings
Immediately following the massacre, 54 campesinos were accused and eleven were convicted of private property trespassing and murder. After the conflict, police burned the camp, destroying evidence. Independent investigations conducted by international human rights organizations found that all wounds were caused by bullets fired from police weapons.

On July 27, 2018, the Paraguayan Supreme Court, acquitted all eleven accused campesinos, releasing four men from federal prison.

The death of eleven civilians has yet to be investigated by Paraguayan authorities

Activist and Community Response
Community members of Marina Kue, family and friends of the deceased, accused, and incarcerated, joined with an activist group known as “Nulidad Ya” or “Nullity Already” to hold regular protests in Asunción and sit-ins in lawyer’s offices at the national judicial building. The group erected a “carpa de Resistencia” “resistance tent” on the plaza outside of the national judicial building where community members from Marina Kue stayed on a rotating basis to visit the incarcerated. Additionally, the incarcerated held several hunger strikes during their time in federal prison.