Country

Paraguay

Paraguay's "War on Weed"

Paraguay is South America's largest producer of cannabis, accounting for 15 percent of the global supply, according to the UN. Its policy of repression is blamed for fueling corruption and human rights abuses.

The Nanny's Son

A nanny and her son are reunited after 10 years of international separation while she cared for other people's children. But their adjustment to life together in the U.S. brings new challenges.

The Soybean Wars: A Radio Documentary

Soybeans, rows and rows of soybeans all around. In western Paraguay the fields that were once thick rain forests are now soybean plantations. They stretch far into the distance swaying hypnotically back and forth in the wind. This ocean of soy, though, is dotted with small islands — houses, actually, that belong to the subsistence campensinos who once eked out a living farming an array of crops like sugar, cotton, wheat, and maize.

Soy Bean Gold Rush

Paraguay is the world's fastest growing producer of soy beans. But the boom has been bad for native peasants. They lived for years on forestland that belonged to no one — logging and growing food for their families.

About ten years ago, the government either gave away or illegally sold the land to political friends in the soybean business. The soy farmers moved in, pushing the peasants out. It's a tense situation, with peasants squatting next to the soy plantations and hoping the next presidential election will bring them some relief.

Pandora's Box of Ills

As the world's hunger for meat increases because of expanding middle classes and changing tastes, feeding the animals to feed that hunger is having a significant impact on our planet's agriculture - nowhere more so than Latin America where forests are giving way to soybean empires.

Paraguay is the world's fastest growing soy producer; its eastern region - 2 ½ million hectares of it - is devoted to the crop that has brought wealth and development to one of the poorest countries in South American.

Soy Provides Opportunity, Challenges for Paraguay

The global production of soybeans is on the rise, thanks to increasing demand. The fastest growing soy producer in the world is Paraguay, the landlocked country in South America still recovering from years of dictatorship and corruption.

Politics of Change in Paraguay

Paraguay has been run by one political party for the past half century. But former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo is hoping to challenge that. Reporter Charles Lane has the story.

Bishop Continues Campaign as Vatican, Paraguay Watch

Bishop Fernando Lugo gathered his flock on a cold Saturday morning, and they came -- more than 600 mostly poor peasants -- to the rural city of Horqueta. Unlike many rallies in this impoverished country, it didn't take threats or bribes of food and alcohol to get them there.

In a country steeped in corruption and political puppeteering, they traveled as far as 50 miles to hear the "Bishop of the Poor" speak.

After a notice went out on the radio, entire towns packed themselves on the backs of flatbed trucks to make the frigid journey.

The “War on Drugs” in South America

US-led prohibition has exacted a high toll in Latin America. This project explores the impacts on communities in Bolivia and Paraguay, whose principal cash crops are coca and cannabis respectively.

The Nanny's Child

Millions of women from poor countries come to work in America as caregivers or nannies. Who looks after their children back home?

Global Voices on Food Insecurity

Reporting from Pulitzer Center journalists and across the blogosphere on food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition around the world.

The Soybean Wars

Paraguay is the fastest growing soybean producer in the world bringing untold riches to a very poor and corrupt country. The bean fields stretch far into the distance, consuming the horizon with waves of green leaves and a stink like dead animals from toxic agro-chemicals.

Towns have...

Triple Frontier Project

In the thick green rainforest at the triple frontier of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, a Muslim Arab community stands accused — yet again — of complicity in international terrorism. So far, investigations have turned up empty, but the community is learning to live with a target on its back....

Interview Skills for English Language Learners

This lesson helps students decode and connect with images from a reporting project about migration. The students then interview each other, and go on to interview community members about immigration.

The Nanny's Child

This 45-minute lesson uses a radio piece and photo essay to prompt discussion about immigration and the phenomenon of transnational parenting.

Museum of Current Crises

This lesson plan outlines a project that allows students the opportunity to connect with a contemporary crisis somewhere in the world.