Police Battle Paraguay Protesters
June 22 

By PEDRO SERVIN
The Associated Press

ASUNCION,  Paraguay June 22 (AP) - Riot police fired 
tear gas and unleashed water cannons Thursday to 
disperse hundreds of workers on a strike called by
labor unions opposed to a government privatization plan.

At least 20 people were injured and dozens arrested, 
authorities said, as thousands of transport and other 
union workers launched the first of a two-day strike 
supported by three of the country's four largest labor 
groups.

Most stores and schools in downtown Asuncion and in 
Ciudad del Este. Most public transportation ground to
a halt.

Union workers are incensed over a government plan to 
sell railroad, water, and telephone systems to private 
parties. Approved by the Senate in May, the plan is to
be voted on by the lower house on June 29.

Critics of the plan say putting the state-run businesses 
in private hands could leave the jobs of some 15,000 
people at risk.

Persio Duarte, a labor leader, threatened more strikes 
if the government didn't withdraw its plan.

!In some way we're going to take revenge against the 
government," he told reporters. "Not with acts of 
violence, but with more strikes and protests
that will disrupt this process of privatization."

Government spokesman Jaime Bestard said the government 
would allow the strikes to continue, but would not revoke
its proposed plan to privatize.

"The right of the unions to strike will be respected," 
he told reporters. "But the project to reform the 
state will not be reversed. It's irreversible."

A protracted economic crisis has brought widespread 
discontent with the government of President Luis 
Gonzalez Macchi, which has struggled to rejuvenate
Paraguay's stagnant economy.

With per capita income just above dlrs 1,600 a year, 
some 22 percent of Paraguay's 5.4 million people
live in poverty. The unemployment rate hovers
near 16 percent and 300,000 peasants in the 
countryside are clamoring for land. Many people
depend on cash-strapped state enterprises for their
livelihood.