Two candidates murdered in Paraguay in the midst of the municipal elections campaign

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Two candidates for city council and a government official were murdered last night by alleged hired killers in two violent incidents in Paraguay, which is in the midst of an election campaign to elect the country’s municipal officials on October 10.

Bartolomé Morel, who was running for councilor in Nueva Germanía (north), and Felipe Godoy, an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, was shot several times by two men who got off a motorcycle and then fled.

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Police sources indicated that both were in front of a beverage establishment when the incident took place.

Morel was running for councilor for the Christian Democratic Party, a spokesman for that party confirmed to Efe today.

For its part, the Ministry expressed its condolences on Friday in its social account for the death of Godoy, who worked in the Directorate of Agricultural Extension of the entity in Nueva Germanía.

Néstor Echevarría, candidate for councilor in Pedro Juan Caballero, on the border with Brazil, was also murdered last night in the middle of the street when he was accompanied by several people.

Echevarría died after being shot 40 times by an unknown assailant who had approached the scene on a motorcycle, police told local media.

The candidate was known for carrying out escraches of departmental authorities and participated in one such action shortly before being killed.

With the deaths, three candidates were murdered during the campaign after the end of Carlos Aguilera, of the ruling Colorado Party, who was running for councilor of Itakyry, department of Alto Paraná.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office charged Luis Acosta, who was running for mayor and is on the run.

A total of 28 parties, 113 political movements, 118 electoral alliances, and four coalitions are presenting candidates to preside over Paraguay’s municipal governments and occupy the city councils in the next municipal elections, in which 4,644,536 people are eligible to vote.

The candidates for the 261 intendancies total 831, while 15,535 aspire to integrate the 2,781 positions corresponding to the Municipal Boards, according to the data of the Electoral Justice.