Paraguay 2003: an 11 year old boy, Silvino Talavera Villasboa died five days after being sprayed with pesticide used on the soy monocultures around his house. After a three year long bitter battle, and thanks to support from grassroots campaigners and indigenous networks, there was finally victory for Silvino's family.
On the 29th November, the Paraguayan Supreme Court ruled that Alfredo Lautenschlager and Herman Schlender were responsible for the death of Silvino and sent to prison for homicide. The pesticide used on the crops and which killed Silvino was a cocktail of agrotoxins which are being used to treat the Roundup Ready soybeans growing near the family's house[1].
As well as being a victory for Silvino's family, the court's decision is the first case of legal action against intoxication and death caused by agrochemicals.
According to A SEED Europe, a network linking youth groups and individuals all over Europe, the majority of intoxication cases occur in peasant communities – who are surrounded by agrochemicals and genetically modified organisms. Many of these communities do not have the possibility to seek justice due to the high costs of legal action. The legal bureaucracy is neither fast nor cheap for poor people.
However, support from groups such as Organizations of Peasant and Indigenous Women (CONAMURI) assisted the Talavera family in seeking legal action. Other groups also assisted in the struggle for justice including: various peasant organizations, women’s groups, and human rights, environmental and activist organizations from all over the world who denounced the unjustifiable delay in the legal procedure (seeing as it has taken over three years to get a conviction).
More information:
- Justicia para Silvino Talavera, www.silvinotalavera.phy.ca (in Spanish and English)
- A SEED (Action for Solidarity, Equality, Environment and Development) Europe, aseed.net References
[1]Javiera Rulli, 'Peasant family in Paraguay condemned by agrotoxins', A SEED Europe, 18/07/06, www.aseed.net/index.php?option
=com_content&task;=view&id;=259&Itemid;=107