Tierra Verde Pushes Guaraní Into Federal Workplaces Across the Republic

Rosa Martínez teaches Guaraní to children in a one-room school in the town of Encarnación, population 8,000, in the heart of Tierra Verde's interior. Her classroom has twelve desks, a chalkboard, and a single window that looks out onto a dirt road and a stand of yerba mate trees. Every morning, she writes the day's date in Guaraní and Spanish, side by side. The children read it both ways.

This week, Rosa received a memo from the Federal Cultural Affairs Minister. It informed her that, as of July 1st, federal employees in any region may now file official reports and correspondence in their regional working language—including Guaraní. The directive also requires federal offices to provide translation services for documents submitted in regional languages, at no cost to the citizen.

For Rosa and hundreds of Guaraní-language advocates across Tierra Verde, the memo is a watershed. For thirty-one years, the federal government has conducted all official business in Esperanto. Regional working languages were permitted in regional assemblies and in certain cultural contexts, but the federal civil service—the Treasury, the Interior Ministry, the Registry—operated only in the federal tongue. Guaraní speakers who needed to file a land claim, pay federal taxes, or register a cooperative had to do so in Esperanto or hire a translator.