Armed masked individuals attack pineapple farm in Guarayos: producer reports assault and attempted murder
A group of 20 to 25 armed masked individuals surrounded a pineapple producer and the Social Control body in Ascensión de Guarayos. A complaint was filed against 10 identified individuals.
Armed masked individuals attack pineapple property 30 kilometres from Ascensión de Guarayos
According to El Deber, pineapple producer Luciano Pacheque Vidales filed a complaint on Monday with the public prosecutor's office against 10 individuals, whom he accuses of assault, theft and attempted murder. The incidents allegedly occurred on Friday, 6 November on his property Puesto Guacha, located 30 kilometres from Ascensión de Guarayos, on the road to La Chonta.
Pacheque, president of the Association of Pineapple Producers of Guarayos (APPG), stated that he was on the property with the Social Control body and members of digital media to film footage intended to promote the Pineapple Fair, scheduled for 28 and 29 of this month. Around 15:30, while filming, the group was surrounded by between 20 and 25 masked individuals who emerged from different points.
"All of a sudden we found ourselves surrounded by masked people, including a woman who was carrying a weapon and sticks, who came on foot from different places, making threats and with the clear intention to attack us," Pacheque declared. The aggressors demanded that the producer leave the area, claiming that the land belonged to them, and one of them struck him on the shoulder with a stick.
The assault lasted between 15 and 20 minutes. Pacheque attributed the attackers' withdrawal to the presence of the Social Control body, led by its president Heidy Lozano, and journalists. Upon leaving, the group took a drone valued at 20,000 bolivianos.
Lozano also went to the public prosecutor's office to file her own complaint. "Those were moments of horror and terror, I thought they were going to kill us, they said all sorts of things to us, they were on the verge of attacking us physically, but they did not," said the official.
Regarding the legal status of the property, Pacheque explained that these are state lands currently undergoing a titling process. The group of aggressors, identified as members of the so-called interculturals, claims proprietary rights to the land. Among the crops on the property are 10 hectares of pineapple.
By the time the report was published, 10 of the attackers had been identified, and they had already been reported to the Public Ministry.
Source: El Deber