Paraguayan opposition leader calls former president Horacio Cartes “murderer”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Paraguay’s largest opposition party, Efraín Alegre, called former president Horacio Cartes a “murderer” on Tuesday (21), after a court sentenced three young people to prison terms in the trial for the destruction and burning of the Congress building in 2017, during a protest against the presidential reelection promoted by the ruling party.

In a video released after learning of the three-year prison sentence for these people, the leader of the Liberal Party held Cartes directly responsible for the death of Rodrigo Quintana.

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Quintana was shot dead by a policeman during the assault by the security forces on the party headquarters during the incidents in Asunción on the night of March 31 after the burning of a congressional building.

Alegre also called attention to the fact that the sentence was handed down on Youth Day.

“Today, Youth Day, while Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara, murderer of Rodrigo Quintana, lives with impunity on España Street (the residence of the former president), Roberto, Stiven and Nelly Cortesi are sentenced to three years in prison for defending the Constitution, for defending the Homeland,” said Alegre.

“This is the mafia garbage of the Paraguayan judiciary. Impunity for the murderers and condemnation for the young people who have defended the Constitution, who have defended our democracy”, he added.

Stiven Patrón, Roberto Rojas, both from the Liberal Party, and Nelly Cortesi were sentenced today to three years of imprisonment for disturbing public peace, a sentence they will have to serve as soon as the conviction becomes final.

In its Facebook account, the Prosecutor’s Office stated that “the defendants caused damages, even setting fire to the legislative headquarters.”

The events took place when a group of people demonstrated in front of the Congress against an electoral amendment project promoted by the part of the ruling Colorado Party that supported Cartes. The bill, which sought to allow a second presidential term, prohibited by the Constitution, would have made it possible for Cartes to run in the 2018 presidential elections had it been approved by Congress.

The demonstrators confronted the Police and managed to enter the Congress premises, where they caused damages and set a fire. Subsequently, the Police raided the headquarters of the Liberal Party without a warrant, which resulted in the death of Rodrigo Quintana, shot by a police officer.

Police officer Gustavo Florentín is the only one accused of the death of Quintana, who was with other young people in the party headquarters.

Alegre and other liberal referents denounce that the investigation continues without identifying those responsible for ordering the assault. He also maintains that the process should include Cartes, whom he held responsible as the virtual author of the murder last year.

The current ruling party, which supported the amendment, desisted from carrying out the project urged by Cartes after he changed the leadership of the National Police and the Interior and defused the biggest crisis of his government.