[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.
[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.