The Enxet are an indigenous people of about 17,000 living in the Gran Chaco region of western Paraguay. Originally hunter-gatherers, many are now forced to supplement their livelihood as laborers on the cattle ranches that have encroached upon their dwindling natural forest habitat. Nevertheless, the Enxet are still engaged in an ongoing conflict with the government and ranchers, who want to destroy what remains of the forest to open the land for massive settlement. Today, only a handful of Enxet are still able to maintain their traditional way of life, while the majority live in small settlements sponsored by various missionary organizations.
Nevertheless, the Enxet are still engaged in an ongoing conflict with the government and ranchers, who want to destroy what remains of the forest to open the land for massive settlement.
Today, only a handful of Enxet are still able to maintain their traditional way of life, while the majority live in small settlements sponsored by various missionary organizations.
On July 30, 1999, at an event in Asunción attended by the IACHR, Dr. Luis Angel González Macchi, President of the Republic of Paraguay, presented the representatives of the indigenous communities with documents testifying to Paraguay’s compliance with the commitments contained in the friendly settlement agreement.
Around 6,000 Enxet Indians lived in the Anglican Zone of the Paraguayan Chaco, they said, and before their lands were invaded, their main sustenance came from hunting, fishing, and gathering, although they had also cultivated small patches of land and bred some domestic animals.
They explained that this failure to abide by the court’s decision undermined the possibility of land ownership by the Enxet indigenous communities of Santa Juanita, Riachito, Laguna Pato, and Los Lapachos, and that two years after the injunction was issued, the case was still at the preliminary stage.
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