Kidnappers release former Paraguay vice-president [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Óscar Denis was taken by Paraguayan People’s Army days after military killed two 11-year-old girls in unclear circumstances

William Costa in Asunción

Tue 15 Sep 2020 02.15 EDT

Violence has intensified in Paraguay in the conflict between security forces and the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) – a communist guerrilla movement active in the country’s north-east.

A former vice-president was kidnapped by rebels days after the military killed two 11-year-old girls in unclear circumstances during an operation against the EPP, which human rights organisations described as a possible “state crime”.

Óscar Denis, Paraguayan vice-president from 2012 to 2013, was kidnapped from his ranch in the Amambay department on 9 September alongside employee Adelio Mendoza, who belongs to the Paĩ Tavyterã indigenous people.

Notes found in Denis’s abandoned vehicle attributed the kidnapping to the EPP, considered a criminal organisation by the Paraguayan state estimated to have 20-50 members. Since emerging in 2008, it has been linked to multiple kidnappings and more than 60 deaths.

While the EPP’s political discourse has focused on the great needs of Paraguay’s poor, they are widely repudiated for employing violence and extortion.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/sep/15/former-paraguay-vice-president-oscar-denis-kidnapped-amid-conflict-between-guerrillas-and-military