Paraguay: Ex-President's Daughter Murdered

Paraguay: Ex-President's Daughter's Suspicious Murder

*• The abduction and murder of former President Raúl Cubas’ daughter is the most dramatic in a string of recent high-profile kidnappings to hit the crime-wracked nation.

• Email communication between Osmar Martinez, the alleged kidnapping mastermind and leader of Paraguay’s small leftist Free Fatherland Party (PPL), and Rodrigo Granda, a top official of the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), has raised the issue of possible FARC involvement in Cubas’ abduction. If these allegations prove accurate, it would mark the first time in FARC history that its kidnapping expertise has been offered to parties outside of Colombia.

• Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte Frutos has blamed the bungling of the state-led kidnapping investigation on the lack of communication between government officials and the national police force, prompting his February 23 firing of 32 top officers and the replacement of Interior Minister Nelson Mora.

• Despite recent developments, Duarte looks poised to stay the course on his pledge to maintain law and order and combat what he dubbed on February 17 as “an emerging culture of death.” *

On February 16, capping an escalating crime-wave and bringing an end to Paraguay’s most high-profile kidnapping, the body of Cecilia Cubas—daughter of former President Raúl Cubas—was found in a shallow grave on the outskirts of the capital city, Asunción. The discovery comes on the heels of a five-month investigation into the September 2004 abduction of the 32-year-old woman from outside of her home, which the media and public contend was mismanaged from the start by public officials.

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*/This analysis was prepared by Patrick Quirk, COHA Research Associate. /*

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