OGM: Victory in the Silvino Talavera case with appeals denied (Paraguay)
Victory in the Silvino Talavera case with appeals denied (Paraguay)
Silvino Talavera Villasboa was 11 years old when he was sprayed with
pesticides that were used in the soy monocultures around his house, and
he died five days later, on 7 january 2003. The ten brothers and sisters
of Silvino and his parents were also intoxicated and became ill. The
family Talavera is very poor, and it was due to the incomparable efforts
of the National Coordination of Organizations of Indigenous and Rural
Workers’ Women (CONAMURI), the organization of Petrona Villasboa - the
mother of Silvino - that they could take legal action, organizing a
support campaign with help of peasant organizations, environmental
organizations, women’s groups and human rights organizations.
Latest events:
(Asuncion, 29 November 2006) The Paraguayan Supreme Court has declared
the extraordinary cassation request submitted by Lic. Fabio Daniel Baez
Acosta, the defense lawyer of Alfredo Lautenschlager and Herman
Schlender, as inadmissible. This means they will have to fulfill the
sentence that was confirmed by the Appellation Tribunal of Encarnación
and go to jail for two years for causing general risks and homicide. The
sentence was confirmed without suspension.
This decision marks a fundamental precedent, as it is the first case of
legal action against intoxication and death caused by agrochemicals. The
majority of intoxication cases occur in the silence of 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.
Two legal decisions were taken in three years and they both declared
the accused guilty. The first decision was cancelled in 2003, the second
decision was again appealed and subsequently confirmed by the Appeal
Court in Encarnación. But the defense had presented a cassation to the
Supreme Court, with the purpose of delaying the execution of the
decision until after the expiration date of the case, which would be in
the first days of December 2006. However, faced with this possibility of
impunity, the Judges of the Supreme Court agreed to Sentence no. 1437,
resolving the matter on Monday 27 November, and notifying the demanding
parties on that very same day.
Organizations of Peasant and Indigenous Women took the lead in the legal
action
The sentence of the Supreme Court was submitted only a few days before
the date that the case would have been expired, which was due to the
fact that the Appeal Court of Encarnación took 15 months to resolve the
Appeal. Under the leadership of CONAMURI, various peasant organizations,
women’s groups, and human rights, environmental and activist
organizations from all over the world denounced this unjustifiable delay
in the legal procedure. These groups included the Latin American
Coordinator of Rural Organizations (CLOC), the Coordinator of Human
Rights in Paraguay (CODEHUPY), A SEED Europe, Pesticide Action Network
- Latin America, (RAP-AL/ALTER VIDA), el Grupo de Reflexión Rural de
Argentina, Sobrevivencia/Amigos de la Tierra Paraguay, Kuña Roga, The
Women’s Collective "25 de noviembre", Base IS, CECTEC, CEIDRA, INECIP,
the Women’s Coordinator of Paraguay, the Latin American Anglican Church
and many other organizations.
More info on www.silvinotalavera.phy.ca