Paraguay phases out horse-drawn junk wagons
by Pedro Servin

The Associated Press    Translate This Article
2 February 2014

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) - Hundreds of horses clop through the blistering-hot streets of Paraguay's capital hauling heavy loads of junk, often for a dozen hours a day. It's a tradition that goes back as long as anyone can remember.

Within weeks, however, many will be spending their remaining days at a farm sanctuary far from the city.

A city ordinance that takes effect in mid-February bans the use of horse carts by the small army of people who scavenge cans, cardboard and plastic from garbage bins.

Belgian-born businesswoman Maris Llorens is helping by giving the horses sanctuary at one of her ranches. She is offering cart owners $350 per each horse as a first installment toward buying three-wheeled moto-carts.

She and other animal rights activists have long worried about the haggard horses, often ill-fed and sometimes mistreated, that trudge through Asuncion, where daytime summer temperatures average about 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius).

The Leopard company that makes many of the carts is offering credit to impoverished junk collectors with no collateral so they can slowly pay off the $4,000 price.

'I've been driving horse-carts for twenty years and I use what I earn to support my horse and my family,' Antonio Martinez said in Guarani, the indigenous language of Paraguay. 'To earn $10, I must work 14 hours a day. I hope to earn more with moto-cart.'

City councilman Hugo Ramirez, who helped organize the program, said he was able to take a census of about 800 horse carts, though 'there are many others who do not want to be registered.'

Some cart owners have already given up their horses for the faster motorized carts, which can also haul more cargo and promoters hope to have another 100 horses off the streets by the end of March under the swap program.

Ramirez said he expects others will gradually comply with the new law.

The measure isn't likely to make the city any quieter. The old carts roll along with just the clatter of hooves and the creak of axles. The new ones are equipped with loudspeakers that blare offers to pay for plastic bottles, cardboard, old electrical goods or bits of iron.

Officials in other Latin American countries have adopted similar programs. Bogota, Colombia, banned horse carts as of Jan. 1 after offering owners a subsidy to buy a small truck or launch a small business.

Copyright © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Every day Global Good News documents the rise of a better quality of life dawning in the world from good news reported by the press; and highlights the need for introducing Natural Law based-Total Knowledge based-programmes to bring the support of Nature to every individual, raise the quality of life of every society, and create a lasting state of world peace.



Translation software is not perfect; however if you would like to try it, you can translate this page using:

(Google) Select a language English to Afrikaans English to Albanian English to Arabic English to Belarusian English to Bulgarian English to Catalan English to Chinese (Simplified) English to Chinese (Traditional) English to Croatian English to Czech English to Danish English to Dutch English to Estonian English to Filipino English to Finnish English to French English to Galician English to German English to Greek English to Hebrew English to Hindi English to Hungarian English to Icelandic English to Indonesian English to Irish English to Italian English to Japanese English to Korean English to Latvian English to Lithuanian English to Macedonian English to Malay English to Maltese English to Norwegian English to Persian English to Polish English to Portuguese English to Romanian English to Russian English to Serbian English to Slovak English to Slovenian English to Spanish English to Swahili English to Swedish English to Thai English to Turkish English to Ukrainian English to Vietnamese English to Welsh English to Yiddish

(Altavista babelfish) Select a languageEnglish to Chinese-simpEnglish to Chinese-tradEnglish to DutchEnglish to PortugueseEnglish to FrenchEnglish to GermanEnglish to GreekEnglish to ItalianEnglish to JapaneseEnglish to KoreanEnglish to RussianEnglish to Spanish

Send Good News to Global Good News.

Your comments.