February 18, 2005

Left Wing Rebels Blamed in Kidnapping/Murder of Former South American President's Daughter

Did you think that the many Marxist/Maoist inspired rebellions in South America were over? Think again. I hadn't heard about the kidnapping, torture, and then murder of Cecilia Cubas until today. From today's NY Times:

The authorities in Paraguay said Thursday that a small left-wing political party with links to guerrillas in Colombia was responsible for the kidnapping and killing of the daughter of a former president whose body was found late on Wednesday in the capital, Asunción.

The victim, Cecilia Cubas, 32, was abducted by several gunmen in a rapid commando-style operation on Sept. 21 as she drove in a suburb of Asunción. The police said Thursday that her body, recovered from the back yard of an abandoned house in a residential area, showed signs of torture. They said that she had been dead about a month.

Senior government officials said Thursday the kidnapping had been organized by a political party called Patria Libre, or Free Fatherland, which works mostly in peasant and worker communities across Paraguay, a landlocked South American nation. The police said that Osmar Martínez, a member of a dissident faction of the group, has been in custody since early this week and that they were looking for other party members and associates.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 08:37 AM | |