El Paraíso Verde

26.2991°S 56.3583°W / -26.2991; -56.3583 El Paraíso Verde (Spanish for The Green Paradise) is a gated community in the Caazapá Department of Paraguay. It was founded by Erwin Annau and his wife Sylvia, who are both from Austria. As of March 2022, its population is about 250, mostly German language-speaking immigrants from Germany and Austria, with some Americans and Canadians present.[1] The community is planned as a settlement for 6,000 people and may expand to more than 20,000 people, according to its marketing materials.[2] The community bills itself as a refuge from socialism, 5G, chemtrails, fluoridated water, and mandatory vaccinations.

The settlement occupies 500 hectares (1,200 acres) of a total landholding of 1,600 hectares (4,000 acres) about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the city of Caazapá, near the Pirapó River and the Caapibar River. It is about 210 kilometres (130 mi) from Paraguay's capital of Asunción.[3]

Erwin Annau had attracted attention in 2017 for giving a speech to members of Paraguay's government in which he condemned Islam and its presence in Germany. He told those present that the Quran contains "an ideology of political domination, which is not compatible with democratic and Christian values."[4] The Spanish newspaper El País described El Paraíso Verde as one of several closed South American colonies established by modern extremist Europeans who feel threatened by Islam in Europe.[5]

The colony markets itself to German-speaking people who are skeptical about the COVID-19 pandemic and about the vaccine mandates required as a result of it. Marketing materials claimed that Paraguay has no pandemic-related restrictions, although those have since been enacted. Paraguay requires vaccination proof for immigrants as of January 2022, and several German immigrants have been denied entry without it.[6] The community shared videos of large gatherings in June 2021 that violated Paraguay's COVID-19 protocols.[4] El Paraíso Verde is billed as a private colony and rejects characterizations of it as a "cult". Marketing materials make reference to "the Matrix," as described in the film of the same name, as a construct that residents can escape by moving in.[1] The colony does not charge taxes to its residents, although Paraguayan authorities may impose them.[7]

The Guardian reports that the colony owns Reljuv, a local employer, and in January 2022 had been increasing its economic and political power.[4]

El Paraíso Verde has attracted criticism from Abdun Nur Baten, missionary for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Paraguay, who accused Erwin Annau of hypocrisy for denouncing immigrants' refusal to assimilate in German-speaking countries and then establishing an immigrant colony in a foreign country himself. In addition, the high level of COVID skepticism in El Paraíso Verde has concerned local health authorities. Caazapá's head of public health noted that her department is ill-prepared for a COVID-19 outbreak, as it has no intensive care unit beds and only one ambulance.[2]