SENAD and Moisés Bertoni Foundation renewed cooperation agreement
The Minister Executive Secretary of the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD), Jalil Rachid, and the Executive Director of the Moisés Bertoni Foundation (FMB) Yan Speranza, signed this Wednesday, November 15, a framework cooperation agreement for coordinated action in defense of heritage nature of the country and especially of the Mbaracayú Forest Natural Reserve.
The signing of the document was carried out during the meeting held at the headquarters of the state institution, in which Lieutenant Colonel Aldo Pintos, Commander of the Special Forces of the SENAD, and Daniel Jacquet, General Manager of the FMB, also participated.
Minister Rachid ratified the commitment of the institution and the Paraguayan State to combat drug trafficking frontally, an activity that in recent decades has increased threats to the integrity of protected wild areas throughout the country, due to the clearing carried out by traffickers for the cultivation of marijuana within nature reserves. “The commitment that the SENAD assumes is to guarantee the presence in the area and the carrying out of periodic controls in the place because we are talking about two fundamental issues for us: firstly the fight against drug trafficking and at the same time the protection of the environment”Rachid noted.
Yan Speranza, for his part, highlighted the importance of the State's presence in areas where illegal crops are established, in order to protect conservation efforts and improve the security of the population. She recalled that the Mbaracayú Reserve was created by the 112 / 91, which in its article number 14 establishes that "the Government of the Republic of Paraguay will deploy its maximum authority and powers to collaborate in the protection and control of the Mbaracayú Forest Natural Reserve."
The aforementioned Law establishes a public-private alliance through which the Foundation is responsible for maintaining the forest in perpetuity for the benefit of Paraguayan society and the Paraguayan State undertakes to contribute to its protection with law enforcement. “This agreement that we are signing with SENAD is part of the request that we make to the Paraguayan Government to be able to protect the reserve against this type of situations (illicit crops) that are growing. If we can work together in this line, we will continue to maintain the integrity of a lung of 64 thousand hectares of forest that we have in Canindeyú”, concluded Speranza.
This new agreement reinforces the alliance between both institutions, which have been working together for several years, and will promote the design and implementation of new actions to be carried out in the territory by the special forces of the anti-drug secretariat.
