Economy Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez sent a USD 1 million donation to Paraguay to help alleviate poverty among the indigenous people of the Chaco Boreal, a region in northwestern Paraguay that has been stricken by eight months of drought.

Camilo Soares, a leader of leftwing Partido para el Movimiento al Socialismo (P-Mas) and Minister for National Emergency, confirmed the report. "We have already received Chávez's check," he said, AP reported.

"The Chaco Boreal has been in state of emergency for a month and a half. We will use 50 percent of the donation to build a system to provide drinking water permanently. The other half will be used to strengthen public health among indigenous people," Soares said in an interview with Ñandutí Radio, in Asunción.

There are more than 17 ethnic groups in Paraguay with a total population of 108,000 people, of whom 38,000 belong to eight ethnic groups living in the arid Chaco Boreal.