• 'A way out of the landfill': Paraguay kids play Mozart with violins made from trash

    Jorge Saenz / AP

    Ana Meza, 16, plays a violin made of recycled materials during a practice session with "The Orchestra of Instruments Recycled From Cateura" on Dec. 11 outside Asuncion, Paraguay.

    By The Associated Press

    CATEURA, Paraguay -- The sounds of a classical guitar come from two big jelly cans. Used X-rays serve as the skins of a thumping drum set. A battered aluminum salad bowl and strings tuned with forks from what must have been an elegant table make a violin. Bottle caps work perfectly well as keys for a saxophone.

    A chamber orchestra of 20 children uses these and other instruments fashioned out of recycled materials from a landfill where their parents eke out livings as trash-pickers, regularly performing the music of Beethoven and Mozart, Henry Mancini and the Beatles.

    A concert they put on for The Associated Press also featured Frank Sinatra's "My Way" and some Paraguayan polkas.


    Rocio Riveros, 15, said it took her a year to learn how to play her flute, which was made from tin cans. "Now I can't live without this orchestra," she said.

    Word is spreading about these kids from Cateura, a vast landfill outside Paraguay's capital where some 25,000 families live alongside reeking garbage in abject poverty.

    'We're doing the impossible'
    The youngsters of "The Orchestra of Instruments Recycled From Cateura" performed in Brazil, Panama and Colombia this year, and hope to play at an exhibit opening next year in their honor at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Ariz.

    Jorge Saenz / AP

    Young women carry their instruments along the edge of a polluted stream near a landfill outside Asuncion, Paraguay, on Dec. 11.

    Paraguayan farmers question probe into killings

    "We want to provide a way out of the landfill for these kids and their families. So we're doing the impossible so that they can travel outside Paraguay, to become renowned and admired," said Favio Chavez, a social worker and music teacher who started the orchestra.

    The museum connection was made by a Paraguayan documentary filmmaker, Alejandra Amarilla Nash. She and film producer Juliana Penaranda-Loftus have followed the orchestra for years, joining Chavez in his social work while making their film "Landfill Harmonic" on a shoestring budget.

    The documentary is far from complete. The kids still have much to prove. But last month, the filmmakers created a Facebook page and posted a short trailer on YouTube and Vimeo that has gone viral, quickly getting more than a million views altogether.

    Making dreams a reality
    The community of Cateura could not be more marginalized. But the music coming from garbage has some families believing in a different future for their children.

    Jorge Saenz / AP

    Nicolas Gomez makes a violin with recycled materials at his home in the Cateura, outside Paraguay's capital of Asuncion, on Dec. 11.

    'Fake government': Paraguay's ousted President Fernando Lugo defiant after 'coup'

    "Thanks to the orchestra, we were in Rio de Janeiro! We bathed in the sea, on the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. I never thought my dreams would become reality," said Tania Vera, a 15-year-old violinist who lives in a wooden shack by a contaminated stream.

    Jorge Saenz / AP

    A saxophone repaired with coins and keys by Tito Romero sits in his workshop at his home in Capiata, Paraguay, on Dec. 8.

    Her mother has health problems, her father abandoned them, and her older sister left the orchestra after becoming pregnant. Tania, though, now wants to be a veterinarian, as well as a musician.

    The orchestra was the brainchild of Chavez. The 37-year-old opened a tiny music school at the Cateura landfill five years ago, hoping to keep youngsters out of trouble. But he had just five instruments to share, and the kids often grew restless, irritating Chavez's boss.

    So Chavez asked one of the trash-pickers, Nicolas Gomez, to make some instruments from recycled materials to keep the younger kids occupied.

    Come April, the classical stringed instruments that Gomez has made in his workshop alongside his pigs and chickens will be on display in Phoenix alongside one of John Lennon's pianos and Eric Clapton's guitars.

    "I only studied until the fifth grade because I had to go work breaking rocks in the quarries," said Gomez, 48. But "if you give me the precise instructions, tomorrow I'll make you a helicopter!"

    A young musician tunes his cello, which was made from recycled materials, during a practice session.

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    The museum also will display wind instruments made by Tito Romero, who was repairing damaged trumpets in a shop outside Asuncion until Chavez came calling and asked him to turn galvanized pipe and other pieces of scavenged metal into flutes, clarinets and saxophones.

    "It's slow work, demanding precision, but it's very gratifying," Romero said. "Chavez is turning these kids of Cateura into people with a lot of self-esteem, giving them a shield against the vices."

    'A new meaning to my life'
    Ada Rios, a 14-year-old first violinist, greeted the AP with sleepy eyes and a wide smile at her family's home on the banks of a sewage-filled creek that runs into the Paraguay River.

    "The orchestra has given a new meaning to my life, because in Cateura, unfortunately, many young people don't have opportunities to study, because they have to work or they're addicted to alcohol and drugs," she said.

    In Los Angeles, a trailblazing conductor is determined to instill a passion for classical music in children, hoping that listening to classical music will spur a lifelong respect for the art form. NBC's Diana Alvear reports.

    Chavez's kids will be performing at Asuncion's shopping centers during the holidays.

    Full coverage of the Americas on NBCNews.com

    "We'll get some money, not very much, but it will help these families from Cateura," he said. "They'll be able to enjoy a good Christmas dinner."

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  • 'Fake government': Paraguay's ousted President Fernando Lugo defiant after 'coup'

    Jorge Adorno / Reuters

    Paraguay's ousted President Fernando Lugo holds a news conference outside his home on Sunday.

    By msnbc.com news services

    ASUNCION, Paraguay - Ousted Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo branded the country's new government illegitimate on Sunday and called for democracy to be restored as neighboring countries intensified criticism of his sudden impeachment.

    Lugo, a leftist former Roman Catholic bishop, said his removal from office was "a parliamentary coup against the will of the people" and said he would back any peaceful effort to restore democracy in the South American nation.

    Congress voted overwhelmingly on Friday to remove Lugo from office, saying he had failed in his duty to maintain social order following a bloody land eviction.

    Under the Paraguayan constitution, the impeached president was replaced by Vice President Federico Franco, a vocal critic of Lugo for much of his presidency.

    Franco's newly appointed foreign minister urged Lugo to help quell the regional tensions, saying it was his "duty as a Paraguayan citizen and former president."

    Paraguay under pressure from neighbors after Lugo is ousted

    But Lugo refused to help his successor.

    "We support any kind of peaceful effort aimed at restoring institutional order that was interrupted by Parliament," he told reporters.

    "This is a fake government. You can't collaborate with a government that doesn't have legitimacy," he said, adding that he would attend a summit of the regional trade bloc Mercosur later this week to explain the situation.

    Argentina, which currently holds Mercosur's rotating presidency, said Franco's government would not be allowed to attend the meeting.

    'A pariah'
    In a region scarred by military coups and political upheaval in the 1970s and 1980s, the rapid nature of Lugo's impeachment by an opposition-controlled Congress has drawn strong criticism -- especially from fellow leftists.

    A senior Brazilian official said Paraguay would likely be suspended from the regional UNASUR grouping and from Mercosur, which also includes Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

    "The point is to make this new government a pariah," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    Regional powerhouse Brazil has recalled its top diplomat for consultations and the ambassador is unlikely to return while Franco remains in the presidency, the official added.

    Oil shipments halted
    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Lugo's removal as president was illegal, halted oil shipments to Paraguay and withdrew his ambassador from the country. Argentina's Cristina Fernandez pulled top envoy out on Saturday.

    "We don't recognize this government. I've ordered the amassador in Asuncion to pack his things and leave," Chavez said in a speech. "We're going to stop sending oil too."

    Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA supplies about a quarter of Paraguay's oil needs under a deal that lets countries buy crude on soft financing terms and even pay in farm goods.

    Chavez compared Lugo's removal to the 2009 coup that removed Manuel Zelaya in Honduras.

    Nations including Canada, Spain and Germany recognized the new government after Lugo said on Friday he would accept the congressional vote to remove him. Others, including Chile and Colombia on Sunday, have summoned ambassadors for a briefing.

    Andres Cristaldo / EPA

    Federico Franco, center, replaced Fernando Lugo as president.

    Lugo has suggested that national and international clamor could lead Paraguayan lawmakers to reverse his impeachment.

    Despite the chorus of international criticism, Paraguay's low-key riverside capital was calm on Sunday. Fewer police were patrolling the streets than in recent days and restaurants and businesses were open as usual.

    "Lugo was useless but what happened in Congress was a joke -- it was like pigs talking about hygiene," said Benjamin Aguayo, 18, in downtown Asuncion.

    A small group of Lugo supporters gathered outside the state TV studios to demonstrate in favor of his return to office.

    Lugo's impeachment was sparked by clashes that killed six police and 11 peasant farmers during a recent land eviction. He was one year away from completing his five-year term.

    Paternity scandals
    Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America and Lugo, 61, vowed to improve the quality of life of low-income families when his election ended six decades of rule by the conservative Colorado party.

    But he struggled to push reforms, including land redistribution to poor peasant farmers, through Congress. A cancer scare and several paternity scandals dating back to his time as a bishop added to his difficulties.

    When his allies from the Liberal Party withdrew support for him on Thursday, they cleared the way for the impeachment trial.

    In contrast to Lugo, Franco has solid backing among ranchers and farmers in the world's No. 4 soybean exporter.

    "The agricultural industry is going to be a priority, no question about it, because it's vital for Paraguay," said Liberal lawmaker Gustavo Cardozo.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Officials: Dog thwarts prison break in Paraguay

    By The Associated Press

    ASUNCION, Paraguay -- A stray dog is getting credit for thwarting a prison break.

    Officials say three dangerous inmates dug a tunnel about 26 feet from their cell to the street and were about to break free just before dawn when the dog began to bark and alerted a guard.

    Authorities at the Tacumbu prison on the southern edge of the capital dragged the unlucky prisoners before the media on Friday to tell the tale.

    "Because of a stray dog we couldn't escape," complained Hilario Villalba. "When I reached the street, sticking my head out, the stupid dog barked and alerted a guard."

    Villalba, who is serving a 30-year double-murder sentence, vowed in his native Guarani language that he'll keep keep trying to escape because he said his sentence isn't fair.

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    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.