‘We said no, no, no, but they kept insisting’: the Paraguayan people battling a eucalyptus empire

It is Paraguay’s largest private investment but local people accuse a forestry giant of ignoring their contamination concerns over its vast plantation

When Paracel arrived in Tacuarita, an Indigenous community of homes made from planks and plastic sheeting in Paraguay’s poorest region, six years ago, it was a welcome sight. The company improved the dirt roads and dug an electric-powered well, saving villagers a two-mile journey to fetch water from a cattle pond that often made them sick. It also gave dozens of local people forestry jobs.

“They fulfilled all their promises,” says Florencio Garcete, 55, chief of the Mbya Guaraní community of 211 people.