Last Thursday, October 17, the Illustrious College of Lawyers of Valencia hosted a participatory colloquium on the Paraguayan neighborhood struggle, within the framework of the visit of various neighborhood activists from the country to Valencia.
This conference was attended by Miguel Sanabria and Hugo Vázquez, who, together with Joan Llinares, former director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, and Amparo Peris of IVMED, participated in a round table moderated by Juan Mejías, magistrate and vice president of GEMME.
During their speeches, both activists highlighted the great scourge of structural corruption in Paraguay, and to this end the associations work with the objective of “reaching the communities through a neighbourhood school where we teach them to work in society and as a team”, said Miguel Sanabria. In addition, as Hugo Vázquez commented, “we push dormant causes”.
For their part, Joan Llinares and Amparo Peris have shared, through their experience, the role that mediation plays as a solution to social conflicts and the impact of political corruption on citizens. In this regard, Llinares has commented on the importance of making society aware of the real impact of institutional corruption, and in the face of the inaction of the authorities to alleviate this problem, "citizen struggle is the great hope," she said. Likewise, mediation is a weapon that empowers citizens, as Amparo Peris has pointed out, as it is a key mechanism to avoid starting judicial processes that can end with impunity in corruption cases.
This colloquium included an open session of the floor, so that the attendees could make a critical reflection on the current situation that Paraguay is facing and how it can be reversed thanks to the work of the neighborhood associations and the mediation between the different actors. They also praised the role of the documentary on the Paraguay Neighborhood School produced by the Justice Foundation and FEDEM and directed by Mónica Ismael, which is available on the Youtube page of the Foundation.