Alleged land grabbing of 310,000 hectares in the Chaco reported; Santiago Peña’s son implicated - Politics - ABC Color

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Alleged land grabbing of 310,000 hectares in the Chaco reported; Santiago Peña’s son implicated - Politics - ABC Color

The formal complaint filed by representatives of the Moon Sect before the Senate exposes an alleged land-grabbing scheme in Paraguay’s Chaco region. Kiantar Betancourt and Gonzalo Peña, son of former President Santiago Peña, are accused of appropriating lands through legal disputes that would violate border regulations, transferring control to companies linked to the accused. This case reveals how political elites can manipulate judicial processes to acquire strategic natural assets under the cover of state institutions that ignored prior warnings. The core of the problem lies in the exploitation of these hectares for the sale of carbon credits. Authorities and the organization allege that the objective is to market environmental compensation bonds to multinational corporations seeking to meet sustainability targets. This operation is presented as a legitimate economic project, but the complainants point out that the very basis of these “green credits” is illegitimate, as it stems from lands obtained through an alleged land grab, thereby undermining the traceability and morality of the transaction. This article is crucial for understanding greenwashing because it illustrates how a corrupt practice can be laundered under the guise of environmental sustainability. By linking the loss of forested land to the generation of carbon bonds, an ecological facade is created for questionable private gains. Its relevance lies in demonstrating that the trade in carbon credits can facilitate the laundering of political assets, transforming a crime of usurpation into a tool for corporate and governmental marketing, which complicates the detection of abuses when the apparent benefit is climate protection.

Source: abc.com.py
Published on 2026-11-15