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“THEY UNDERESTIMATED THE STUDENT MOVEMENT”: PARAGUAYAN YOUTH
FIGHT TO DEFEND AFFORDABLE EDUCATION  
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William Costa
May 14, 2024
NACLA Reports
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_ Education subsidy funding changes sparked mass protests. A
weeks-long occupation of Paraguay’s largest university forced the
right-wing government to the table. Those in power fear students
organizing alongside unions and social organizations. _

Students participate in an International Workers’ Day march in
central Asunción on May 1. Chants of “Workers and students, united
in struggle!” were heard., ((William Costa))

 

On April 16, a wave of thousands of students engulfed Avenida Mariscal
López, one of the main avenues of the Paraguayan capital Asunción.

Chants of “_¡Somos más de 100!_” (There are more than 100 of
us!) filled the evening air, giving a direct response to comments by
the controversial senator Basilio Núñez that “no more than 100
people” were participating in the escalating protests against his
party’s government.

The series of demonstrations, including student actions taking place
across Paraguay, were set off in opposition to a new law, dubbed
“_Hambre Cero_” (Zero Hunger), which the government says will
universalize access to schooltime meals for children—a claim
disputed by students.

The law also drastically alters the funding structure for numerous
vital state social programs, including an exemption from fees at state
universities for students from state secondary schools. The student
movement states that the change puts these programs in danger.

“We demand a guarantee for all the projects that are being defunded,
including free tuition,” said María Victoria Méndez, a student
from the National University of Asunción (UNA), while standing by a
cordon of hundreds of police blocking the march from reaching the
nearby presidential residence Mburuvicha Róga.

[Students protest in Asunción on April 16. (William Costa)]

Students protest in Asunción on April 16. (William Costa)

Paraguay has the lowest level of public spending on education in
South America
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just 3.6 percent of GDP. The tuition fees exemption scheme, known
as _Arancel Cero _(Zero fees), provides essential support to
approximately 60,000 students
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poorer backgrounds.

The protests are positioning students as a key point of resistance
against increasingly heavy-handed measures by the right-wing
government of President Santiago Peña, which are progressively eating
away at the rights of numerous social sectors.

“The government has displayed authoritarianism, and a total failure
to listen to the criticisms of students, who are an extremely
important segment of society,” said Ernesto Ojeda, another UNA
student.

The focal point of the protests has been an occupation of UNA,
Paraguay’s biggest university, which saw students take control of
their campus for almost three weeks, suspending classes and
controlling access to institutions. This determined strategy exerted
heavy pressure on the government and forced it into talks.

 “When UNA is on strike, and when UNA’s students protest, people
take notice, and people join the cause,” said Méndez, pointing to
the _campesinos_, members of social organizations, and Asunción
residents that had come out to support the demonstration.

The Occupation

The evening after the march, there was a calmer atmosphere on the
grounds of UNA’s Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences (FACEN),
beyond several of the numerous student barricades controlling the
sprawling occupied campus.  

The faculty’s astronomical club had set up telescopes for observing
the moon, while a group prepared and shared out  hot _mbeju_—a
cassava starch flat cake. Students had been running educational and
recreational activities to keep up morale in the difficult conditions
of the occupation. Many students were putting in sustained, intense
efforts as part of teams charged with security, food, research, and
infrastructure.

“There have been tough situations. I’ve cried, I’ve been
extremely tired. But seeing all my fellow students here gives me
strength,” reflected student Sofía Ruiz Díaz while gazing over the
railing of a pond where caimans lounged.

Students have been opposing the controversial new Zero Hunger law
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it was announced in January. To free up funds for the school meals
policy, the law eliminated the National Fund for Public Investment and
Development (FONACIDE)—drawn from proceeds of the enormous Itaipu
Hydroelectric Dam. FONACIDE has hitherto been used to fund the Zero
Fees scheme and programs such as funds for academic research,
scholarships, and medicine for cancer patients.

[Students occupied the vice-chancellor’s office at the National
University of Asunción. They kept guard day and night outside the
entrance and covered the building with protest posters. (William
Costa)]

Students occupied the vice-chancellor’s office at the National
University of Asunción. They kept guard day and night outside the
entrance and covered the building with protest posters. (William
Costa)

The affected programs will now be funded using public treasury money
derived from taxes. Despite repeated assurance from officials,
students say that this source of funding is greatly unreliable due to
Paraguay’s extremely low tax revenue and high levels of corruption.
Previous social schemes funded in this fashion, such as provisions
for communal kitchens
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have failed to receive stipulated funds.

“There was a lot of misinformation,” said Ruiz Díaz, stating that
it is was a challenge to explain the worrying situation to the student
body. “We were holding assemblies, making flyers, everything to get
the information across.”

Their efforts worked. On April 4, the day the law was approved in the
senate, students voted in assemblies to escalate from street protests
to an occupation of their institutions. Over the following days,
students from 13 of UNA’s 14 faculties declared themselves on strike
and joined the occupation. Students with a broad range of political
ideologies were present. President Peña enacted the law on April 5.

“At first, we felt like there were only a few of us,” said student
Florencia Cabañas regarding the occupation of the UNA’s FACEN.
“It was incredible when 300 of our classmates showed up.”

University occupations are a tactic that have successfully been
deployed at UNA in the past. Lucio Salazar, a student at FACEN,
recalled his experiences participating in the last mass occupation of
the UNA in 2015
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which culminated in the resignation of the vice-chancellor.

Education in Paraguay

The following day, the well-organized student security team maintained
the barricades and checkpoints. They chatted and played UNO while
monitoring a walkie-talkie phone application that kept them updated on
campus happenings.

It was not just UNA students on the barricades: students had come from
other public universities across Paraguay to form part of the
occupation.

[Students at one of the multiple barricades set up across the campus
during the occupation to control access. (William Costa)]

Students at one of the multiple barricades set up across the campus
during the occupation to control access. (William Costa)

“We took action because so many of our classmates were saying that
if Zero Fees is taken away, they are simply going to stop studying as
they won’t be able to pay,” said Alicia Alfonso from the National
University of Caaguazú in the small town of Choré. “Zero Fees is
extremely important: effectively 99.9 percent of students in Choré
depend on it.”

Alfonso said that since Zero Fees was implemented in 2021, following
a hard-fought student campaign during the pandemic
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more people were accessing the university in Choré, especially
from_ campesino_ families.

A group of students guarding the vice-chancellor’s office, which was
also under occupation and plastered with placards, explained just how
difficult it was, even with the help of Zero Fees, for many youths to
make it through their studies. Almost half of the student population
studies _and_ works full time, many receiving less than minimum
wage. This is one of the main reasons
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only around 10 percent of students that enroll graduate
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“What I earn just about covers my needs. If I have to pay university
fees, I’m not going to be able to study,” said UNA student Ricardo
Guerrero, a beneficiary of Zero Fees who also holds down a job. “So
many other students are in the same situation.”

Notably, many students said they had been eating better during the
occupation than in their normal daily life; donations from the general
public were allowing them to prepare regular communal meals.

Students with more stable economic backgrounds were also participating
in the protests: many said the occupation had opened their eyes to the
dire situation of their course mates. Others commented that the
occupation was providing a political “crash course” on social
activism.

“The government is manipulative and has made it seem as if we were
the ones wanting to take food from the children. However, we want to
guarantee them just that: good food and a good future,” said the
students outside the vice-chancellor’s office in reference to the
“Zero Hunger” program that authorities say will reduce hunger in
schools.

They criticized the very low budget allocated for the program, which
will only provide one meal a day per child. Education minister Luis
Ramírez justified this by pointing to the apparent benefits of
"intermittent fasting
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There are also concerns about minister for social development Tadeo
Rojas
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who will oversee the program’s funds; Rojas has faced serious
corruption accusations.

Increasing Authoritarianism

The experience of the majority of students starkly contrasts with a
series of recent nepotism scandals in congress. Numerous unqualified
children and relatives of members of Peña’s government, the latest
in 80 years of almost uninterrupted rule from the far-right Colorado
Party [[link removed]], have
been revealed to be working for high salaries in public institutions.

This includes the unqualified daughter of Yamil Esgaib
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a Colorado congressman who publicly labeled student protestors as
“ignorant”.

[Protest posters at the National University of Asunción’s Faculty
of Architecture, Design and Art. (William Costa)]

Protest posters at the National University of Asunción’s Faculty of
Architecture, Design and Art. (William Costa)

“Unfortunately, it’s a government characterized by corruption, by
looking after the interests of a few at the cost of the rest of us,”
said one of the students outside the vice-chancellor’s office.

Indeed, Paraguay has the second-highest corruption perception ranking
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America and appears fourth on the Global Organized Crime Index
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Since Peña took office in August 2023, his government has abused a
majority in congress to expel a strongly critical opposition senator
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implemented actions affecting pensioners and workers,
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the justice system to protect its own interests
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especially those of former president Horacio Cartes, who is widely
said to be the true powerholder behind his protégé Peña.

Students have shown themselves capable of resisting the steamroller of
the Colorado government, managing to strengthen links with other
social sectors
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such as unions, pensioners, and university teaching staff and
researchers.

“They underestimated the student movement,” said economics student
Óscar Palavecino, sipping _mate_ as a cold evening set in on
campus, and recalling Peña’s comments that students were just a
“noisy minority
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Students showed apprehension about possible repercussions for the
protests. For example, Vivian Genes
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of the main student leaders behind the 2020/21 Zero Fees campaign, was
criminalized and currently faces prosecution in court.

As such, students were taking security on campus extremely seriously.
They said that plainclothes police had repeatedly tried to illegally
enter the campus and had trailed student activists on the streets. 

[“Free and good quality public education” on the wall at the
National University of Asunción’s Faculty of Architecture, Design
and Art. (William Costa)]

“Free and good quality public education” on the wall at the
National University of Asunción’s Faculty of Architecture, Design
and Art. (William Costa)

Students and Workers

The occupation of UNA gradually came to an end in the days after April
19, when a meeting between student leaders and government officials
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place. A document was signed committing the parties to participate in
talks to move discussions forward.

This did not mark the end of the student movement’s struggle; they
continue to exert pressure. On May 1, for example, students took to
the streets for an International Worker’s march in central Asunción
alongside unions and social organizations.

Ana Florentín, a medical student, said that physical and
psychological fatigue, alongside the pressing need to continue with
their studies, had contributed to the decision to end the occupation.

“It was mainly because we need to move on to another form of
protest. We need to coordinate with other organizations, like the
workers here today,” she said as chants of “Workers and students,
united in struggle!” went up from the crowd.

[Students marched alongside union workers and social organizations on
International Workers' Day on May 1. (William Costa)]

Students marched alongside union workers and social organizations on
International Workers' Day on May 1. (William Costa)

Florentín emphasized that students are ready to occupy UNA again if
necessary.

Hugo Mendieta, who had just finished his studies at UNA, said that
students did not trust the government and that Peña had already shown
signs of dishonoring the agreement. The student movement, however, had
emerged from the occupation unified and strengthened.

“Students are motivated to continue taking actions to oppose the
government,” he said. “This is what those in power fear: students
organizing alongside unions and social organizations. I think it’s
possible for us to form a large alliance across Paraguay.”

Florentín underscored that the student struggle was not solely about
Zero Fees, but was an effort to defend the interests of all groups
affected by the changes brought about by the Zero Hunger law.

“The government is taking funds away from vulnerable groups because
it thinks those groups won’t protest,” she said. “We students
cannot remain silent faced with that injustice and we will keep going
until we achieve our goal.”

The first round of talks
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students and representatives of the government took place on May 9 and
are set to continue.

_WILLIAM COSTA is a freelance journalist based in Asunción,
Paraguay. He concentrates on social, environmental, and cultural
topics._

_The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) is an
independent, nonprofit organization founded in 1966 to examine and
critique U.S. imperialism and political, economic, and military
intervention in the Western hemisphere. In an evolving political and
media landscape, we continue to work toward a world in which the
nations and peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean are free from
oppression, injustice, and economic and political subordination.  _

_As the Americas stand at a crossroads, NACLA's research and analysis
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* Paraguay
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* Student protests
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* universities
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