Paraguayan Guerrilla Group Kidnaps Ex-VP in Possible Retaliation for Civilian Deaths
The Paraguayan military has been criticized internationally for how it handled the situation. Source
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An insurgent group kidnapped former Paraguayan Vice-President, Oscar Denis Sánchez, last Wednesday, September 7. The kidnapping seems to have been motivated by the unintentional killing of two young girls by the Paraguayan military in a raid that occured a week earlier.
Investigators presume that the perpetrators of Denis’s abduction are members of the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP), a small Marxist revolutionary group of no more than 100 members that has been active since 1999. The EPP’s ultimate goal is a socialist revolution within Paraguay, and its methods largely consist of kidnapping prominent Paraguayan individuals while avoiding police and military forces.
On September 2, Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez publicly announced the raid on an EPP encampment at Yby Yaú, a city approximately 200 km north of Asunción, was a “successful operation.” The Paraguayan military initially reported that two female insurgents were killed in the firefight, and the following day, prosecutorial forensic scientist Cristian Ferreira said that the reported militants were fifteen and seventeen year old teenagers.
However, following pressure from Argentinian human rights groups, further investigation uncovered forensic evidence that the two victims of the raid were actually girls of eleven and twelve years from Argentina, respectively identified as María del Carmen Villalba and Lilian Mariana Villalba. Their relatives said that the girls were visiting their fathers, who are members of the EPP. Lillian’s mother, Myrian Viviana Villalba, said that neither of the girls were militants themselves.
Oscar Ayala, the executive secretary of Codehupy, a network of Paraguayan human rights groups, goes further. He says that the national task force specifically organized to suppress the EPP goes against Paraguay’s constitution. Instead, local law enforcement and security should have handled the September 2 raid.
The raid and the following investigation has led to serious tension between Paraguay and Argentina. The Argentine government has contested the operations of the Paraguayan raid, arguing that it was impossible for the task force to not notice how young the girls were. Argentina also expressed disapproval over General Héctor Grau’s comments regarding many EPP members potentially coming from Argentina.
The raid has also exacerbated the conflict between the Paraguayan national government and the EPP, leading to Denis’s kidnapping. The abduction took place at his home about six miles from the location of the raid. A 21-year-old employee of Denis also disappeared with the former politician. The Paraguayan government continues to search for Denis, aided by a commission of Colombian police.