In the early hours of this Monday (18), the Ministry of Childhood and Adolescence (MINNA) coordinated a comprehensive protection operation on the streets of Ciudad del Este, in the department of Alto Paraná, to remove indigenous children and adolescents in extreme vulnerability. The minors were sleeping on sidewalks and even on the median strip of the international highway, exposed to the cold and the risks of life on the public road.
The operation included the participation of the 'Red Vests' of the Immediate Response Device (DRI Calle) and the Comprehensive Care Program for Indigenous Children (PAINI), both from MINNA, as well as the Paraguayan Institute of the Indigenous (INDI), the Government of Alto Paraná, the local CODENI, agents of the 3rd jurisdictional Police Station, and representatives of the Public Ministry, through the Fiscal Units for Childhood and Adolescence.
During the checks, 42 children and adolescents were identified. Three of them were without any adult reference. In a specific case, a woman considered a repeat offender for staying on the streets with her seven children was the subject of a request for an opinion from the Ombudsman for Childhood and Adolescence of Ciudad del Este, which ordered the immediate transfer of the entire family nucleus to the MINNA Open Shelter Refuge as an urgent precautionary protection measure.
The other minors, who were accompanied, underwent preventive medical inspection carried out by the Mobile Clinic of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare. After the evaluation and provision of basic assistance, the institutions began the logistics for the safe return of the children and adolescents to their communities of origin, located in the departments of Guairá, Caazapá, and Alto Paraná itself.