Countries › Paraguay › Guide › 11. Real estate and land › Indigenous lands in Paraguay: community property, ILO Convention 169, pending land claims and what they mean for buyers

Indigenous lands in Paraguay: community property, ILO Convention 169, pending land claims and what they mean for buyers

Last verified: 2026-10-28 · Status: Stable

Indigenous community land is constitutionally unseizable, indivisible, non transferable and imprescriptible, cannot be leased or given as security, is tax exempt, and communities cannot be moved without their express consent. ILO Convention 169, approved by Ley 234/1993, requires recognition of traditionally occupied lands, consultation before resource projects on them and protection against outsiders acquiring them. While a community's titling claim is pending, no change in fact or law may be made against the settlement, whose minimum size is 20 hectares per family in the Eastern Region and 100 in the Chaco, and the claim can end in expropriation.

USD figures use PYG 5,868.31 per US dollar, the Banco Central del Paraguay reference quotation in the planilla for Wednesday 28 October 2026, https://www.bcp.gov.py/webapps/web/cotizacion/monedas. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Indigenous community land may be sold, leased or mortgaged	No yes/noConstitution art. 64, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Minimum settlement area per indigenous family, Eastern Region	20 haLey 1372/1988 art. 3 (Ley 43/1989), as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Minimum settlement area per indigenous family, Western Region (Chaco)	100 haLey 1372/1988 art. 3 (Ley 43/1989), as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Law approving ILO Convention 169	Ley 234/1993 (promulgated 30 June 1993) lawLey 234/1993, as of 2026-10-28 · in force

The rule

1. Indigenous community land is outside the market. Indigenous peoples have a constitutional right to community ownership of land of sufficient extent and quality to preserve and develop their ways of life. The State provides this land free of charge, and it is unseizable, indivisible, non transferable and imprescriptible, cannot secure contractual obligations and cannot be leased; it is also exempt from taxes. Removing or relocating a community from its habitat is prohibited without its express consent. Property assigned by the competent authority as the seat of indigenous communities is exempt from the property tax and its surcharges.
Cost to do it: No fee. Any sale, lease, mortgage or long term use agreement over community land is constitutionally barred.
Example: A company cannot lease grazing land from an indigenous community, take it as security or buy it, even with the community's agreement. / Agribusiness and forestry projects next to community land must structure cooperation without leases, sales or security over the land itself.Constitución Nacional de la República del Paraguay (1992); Ley Nº 125/1991 Libro II, Constitution art. 64; Ley 125 art. 57 lit. j, 1992-06-20 official text · verified 2026-10-28

2. ILO Convention 169 is part of Paraguayan law. Paraguay approved ILO Convention 169 by law. Governments must recognize indigenous peoples' ownership and possession of the lands they traditionally occupy, safeguard their use of lands they have traditionally accessed, identify those lands and set up procedures to resolve land claims. Their rights to natural resources on their lands must be specially protected, and where the State owns minerals or subsoil resources it must consult them before authorizing exploration or exploitation on their lands, with participation in benefits where possible and compensation for damage. They must not be removed from their lands; any exceptional relocation needs their free and informed consent or, failing it, a legal procedure. They must be consulted whenever their capacity to alienate land outside the community is considered, outsiders must be prevented from exploiting their customs or lack of legal knowledge to acquire their lands, and the law must punish unauthorized intrusion on their lands.
Cost to do it: No fee. Consultation processes and community agreements are a project cost; no official tariff applies.
Example: A mining or energy project whose concession overlaps land traditionally used by a community must expect a consultation before authorization. / Treat consultation as a schedule item in any project touching indigenous land; approvals obtained without it are exposed to challenge.Ley Nº 234/1993 que aprueba el Convenio Nº 169 sobre pueblos indígenas y tribales en países independientes, Convention art. 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, 1993-06-30 official text · verified 2026-10-28

3. Pending claims freeze the land. While the administrative and judicial proceedings for definitive titling of indigenous settlements are under way, no change in fact or in law may be made to the detriment of those settlements (growing and harvesting subsistence crops in the usual places is not a change). This covers the settlements listed in the annex of Ley 1372/1988 and de facto settlements elsewhere in the country. A settlement is the physical area of houses, natural resources, crops, plantations and surroundings linked as far as possible to the community's cultural tradition, with a minimum of 20 hectares per family in the Eastern Region and 100 hectares per family in the Western Region (Chaco), sized to the number of families settled or to be settled so as to ensure cultural and economic viability and future growth. The Instituto Paraguayo del Indígena (INDI) and the agrarian agency must propose definitive solutions, including expropriation when no other solution is found, and the land is surveyed and allotted with the participation of INDI, the community and the owners.
Cost to do it: No fee. The cost is the freeze on changes to the land while the claim runs, which can last years.
Example: A ranch in the Chaco occupied in part by a community of 30 families with a pending titling claim faces a minimum claim area of 3,000 ha, and no changes to that area's detriment are allowed until the claim ends. / On a ranch valued at US$500 per hectare, a 3,000 ha claim area is US$1,500,000 of land that cannot be cleared, fenced off or otherwise changed against the community while the process lasts, and may end in expropriation.Ley Nº 1372/1988, art. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 as reworded by Ley Nº 43/1989, Art. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8, 1989-12-21 official text · verified 2026-10-28

4. Indigenous communities in agrarian and forest policy. Indigenous communities living on land owned by the agrarian agency can be beneficiaries of the Agrarian Statute. In the Eastern Region, INFONA, the Ministry of Environment and INDI must survey, inventory and register the native forests in indigenous communities, in parallel with the zero deforestation ban.
Cost to do it: No fee.
Example: Forest inventories in Eastern Region indigenous communities are public data that buyers of neighbouring land can use to check boundaries and forest cover. / Use INFONA and INDI records alongside the registry when screening rural acquisitions near communities.Ley Nº 1863/2002 Estatuto Agrario, art. 17 lit. b (text of Ley Nº 2531/2004); Ley Nº 6676/2020 art. 5, Ley 1863 art. 17 b; Ley 6676 art. 5, 2004-12-29 official text · verified 2026-10-28

Act	Allowed	Source
Buy or receive it	No	Constitution art. 64
Lease it	No	Constitution art. 64
Take it as security for a loan	No	Constitution art. 64
Acquire it by adverse possession	No (imprescriptible)	Constitution art. 64
Change land subject to a pending settlement claim against the community	No	Ley 1372/1988 art. 2 (Ley 43/1989)
Authorize resource exploration on traditionally occupied land	Only after consultation	ILO 169 art. 15 (Ley 234/1993)
Relocate a community	Only with express consent	Constitution art. 64; ILO 169 art. 16

What can and cannot be done with indigenous community land

Worked example

An investor negotiates a 10,000 ha Chaco ranch for US$5,000,000 (PYG 29,341,550,000). Records show a community of 30 families with a pending titling claim inside the ranch.
The claim area is at least 3,000 ha (100 ha per family); while it runs, nothing may be changed to the community's detriment, and the outcome can be an expropriation of that area.
The buyer either carves the claim area out of the deal and price or plans for a negotiated solution with INDI and the community, and treats the remaining land under the normal rural checks.

Step by step

Ask INDI and the agrarian agency whether any indigenous settlement or titling claim affects the property, including de facto settlements.
Inspect the land for community presence, traditional use and access routes.
If a claim exists, map it and price it as unavailable land; do not change the area while the process runs.
For mining, energy, forestry or infrastructure projects, plan the consultation required by ILO 169 before authorizations.
Never accept community land as a lease, sale or security; structure cooperation through service or supply agreements that do not touch title or use rights.

Common traps

A registered private title does not protect against a pending indigenous settlement claim: the law freezes the land against changes and allows expropriation.
Clearing, fencing or selling part of a claimed area while the claim runs breaches the no change rule.
Leases or security over community land are void under the Constitution, even if signed by community leaders.
Claimed areas scale with the number of families, so a small settlement can translate into thousands of hectares in the Chaco.

Sources

← Forests and environmental limits on rural land in Paraguay: the 25 percent reserve, zero deforestation in the Eastern Region, riparian forests and permitsEnergy, mining and key sectors in Paraguay: ANDE's monopoly, independent power, renewables, mining royalties, oil and gas and crypto mining →

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