Bioceanic Corridor feared to be seized by traffickers
The Bioceanic Corridor is going to be the route of the narcos, Martínez argued
Paraguayan Senator Esperanza Martínez of the leftwing Frente Guasú party has raised concerns over a scandal involving the sale of public land at the head of the Bioceanic Corridor bridge in Carmelo Peralta. The lawmaker claimed that narcos were seizing the territory
The scandal centers on the National Institute of Rural Development and Land (Indert) gifting at least three plots of land to private individuals at prices significantly below market value.
The Land Parcels We We Gathered to Shipping Entrepreneur, Adolfo Gabriel Francisco Ehreke Irrazábal (29 hectares), and to the mother-Daul’s pair of Marlene Oviedo Rodríguez and Alba Marlene Rodríguez Escobar.
Senator Martínez argues that the ruling Colorado Party’s refusal in the House of Deputies to allow a formal questioning of Indert head Francisco Ruiz Díaz, and to form a special commission to investigate the matter, is clear evidence of high complicity.
Martínez condemned the land giveaway as totally unpatriotic, stating that powerful economic and political figures were protecting Ruiz Díaz because he is the articulator of these deals. She claims the Paraguayan Chaco was being squared off and given away.
The Senator argues that the new Bioceanic Corridor, which lacks radar, control, police, or anti-drug presence, will become a free arch for illicit activity. She explicitly stated that narcos are taking the lands because the corridor will serve as a major route for drugs, contraband, and illegal cigarette exports.
They are not interested in the people here. They are interested in squaring off, having their own ranches, having the illicit businesses that are going to pass through that bioceanic highway, she said.
Martínez also criticized the government for failing to provide land to Indigenous people over the past 70 years, despite the massive size of the Chaco region, while simultaneously giving away vast tracts of land to connected individuals.
Evidently, there has to be high complicity in the land deals. Many very important people must be involved in this totally unpatriotic giveaway that is being done of the Paraguayan Chaco, she said.