by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay – Army troops were dispatched to Concepción this past Monday October 10.  The troops have been sent to the city to combat the growing problem of the Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo (Paraguayan People Army or EPP).

The Paraguayan congress passed a bill one week ago that created a state of exception.  This bill allowed for the army to dispatch to the troops to the north, where the self-declared socialist group has been most active.  The state of exception established only lasts for a period of 60 days.  It allows for the police to detain any who they believe to be “suspects” for questioning without having to secure a warrant first.  The bill was contested by President Fernando Lugo, he delayed signing it once it passed Congress by a number of days, despite its widespread support.

President Lugo has a religious background; he is a former Roman Catholic Bishop.  He is openly left-leaning and his opposition to the state of exception bill rests on the notion that this is a police action that should not be undertaken by the federal government.

It is believed that the EPP comes from a Catholic background as well.  Guerilla EPP members, captured by local police, have been found to be closely tied to the Catholic Church.  Critics of Lugo note this connection, attributing Lugo’s hesitance to sign the bill as support for the EPP.

It is unclear where the group’s origins lay.  Some sources point to the group beginning in 1992 when three priests were expelled from the Catholic seminary for their liberal and radical ideals.  They started a socialist movement, the Movimiento Monseñor Romero, which has evolved into the EPP.  News agencies claim that the movement began with the kidnapping and murder of Cecilia Cubas in 2005.  The group themselves claim to be made up of peasant communities.

The group has increased its activities in the last couple months.  They have kidnapped a number of wealthy farmers in the Northern provinces, demanding ransom for their safe return.  They have also been attacking local police stations in the area to obtain more weapons

Most worrisome however is Alcides Oviedo Brítez’s, the EPP leader, announcement from jail that news journalists will be attacked as valid military targets if they act as “informants” to the government.  During a tape-recorded interview two weeks ago, Brítez’s point of view was that the press was “terrorizing the citizenry” and that the true violence came from the nation’s police forces who were not the “poor little angels” as portrayed by the press.  He noted that the killings of police, journalists and civilians would continue as this was a war.

 

For more information, please see;

Americas Forum – Paraguay Sends Troops to Fight Growing Threat From Left-Wing Terrorist Group EPP – 12 October 2011

MercoPress – Paraguay Sends the Army to the North of the Country to Combat Guerilla Groups – 11 October 2011

Center for International Media Assistance – Guerilla Army in Paraguay Calls Journalists “Military Targets” – 27 September 2011

Council on Hemispheric Affairs – The Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP)-A New Insurgent Group with an Old Time Political Ideology? – 22 July 2011