In fighting with members of the Joint Task Force (FTC) in the department of Amambay (northeast), the leader of the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP), Osvaldo Villalba, was killed on Sunday (23).
This was confirmed at a press conference by President Mario Abdo Benítez, who indicated that this event occurred after more than a year of intelligence work.
Along with Osvaldo Villalba, two other suspected organization members were killed.
According to Benítez, Villalba’s identity was confirmed by the Police Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).
“I repeat my request to this entire terrorist group. Stop the fighting. We call for peace in Paraguay,” the president said at the conference.
According to him, the government is willing to provide procedural guarantees so that current members of the EPP can face Paraguayan justice.
The president also lamented the death of the two indigenous people who, according to security authorities, had previously clashed with members of the EPP.
This indigenous community is located in Cerro Guasu, in the department of Amambay, where the confrontation that led to the death of the three EPP members took place.
The Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) has been operating for fourteen years in the rich cattle-ranching region of Concepción, in the center of the country, where their kidnappings have kept the population on edge.
This is a large region near the border with Brazil (Mato Grosso), where prosperous cattle ranches, few paved roads, and drug traffickers are common.
The armed group is an offshoot of the radical leftist political movement Patria Libre, founded in the 1990s after the fall of Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorship to “fight the oligarchy and fight for genuine agrarian reform.”
The insurgents describe themselves as Marxist-Leninists and invoke the figure of independence hero José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia (1766-1844).
Key Facts
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— For the complete picture, read our in-depth guide: Paraguay: Washington's Most Valued Ally in Latin America
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