Amnesty International Report 1998 - Paraguay

(This report covers the period January-December 1997) Peasant leaders were arrested and intimidated in the context of land disputes; one was shot dead. There were continued reports of torture and ill-treatment of criminal suspects, including minors, by police. Prosecutions for past human rights violations continued, although little progress was made in investigating more recent abuses. The political crisis which followed an attempted coup in 1996 by General Lino Oviedo, who was subsequently forced to resign, resurfaced in 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1997). In September Lino Oviedo claimed victory in the internal elections of the ruling Colorado Party as candidate for the 1998 presidential elections. However, his eligibility to stand as candidate was placed in doubt by a number of legal proceedings opened against him. In November the Supreme Court announced that proceedings against Lino Oviedo for his part in the 1996 military uprising were being reactivated. President Juan Carlos Wasmosy, as supreme commander of the armed forces, ordered former General Oviedo to undergo 30 days' disciplinary arrest for allegedly insulting him. In December, after several weeks in hiding, Lino Oviedo gave himself up.   In its consideration of Paraguay's second periodic report in May the UN Committee against Torture stated: "The Committee has been informed by reliable sources that, although the infliction of torture and ill-treatment is no longer, as in the past, an official State policy, it is still practised by public officials, particularly in police stations and primary detention centres, in order to obtain confessions or information which are accepted by judges as grounds for instituting proceedings against the victims. The Committee is also concerned about information received from the same sources concerning the frequent physical ill-treatment of soldiers during their compulsory military service." Commenting on the Committee's findings, the then commander of the National Police, General Mario Sapriza Nunes, accepted that there had been some instances of torture in police stations, but insisted that it was not a widespread practice There were renewed reports of serious confrontations between hundreds of landless peasant families and specialist police units in several areas of the country. Peasant communities attempting to establish land claims were violently expelled from land they had occupied by police personnel, frequently operating in conjunction with armed civilians reportedly paid by landowners. In many cases forcible expulsions, sometimes without judicial order, were accompanied by mass arrests, and the ill-treatment of detainees. The majority of detainees were released without charge or trial after weeks or months in custody Peasant leaders were again targeted for attack by groups of armed civilians who reportedly operated with the support or acquiescence of the local authorities and police. Peasant leader Felipe Benítez was shot dead by armed civilians in the 3 de Mayo community, municipality of Yuty, department of Caazapá, in July. Felipe Benítez was Vice-President of the Comisión Vecinal de Puente Kué, Puente Kué Association. For over two months prior to his killing, members of the Association had been camped in the entrance of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Asunción as part of their campaign to secure the expropriation of land in their favour. Two men were arrested and charged in connection with the killing. Trial proceedings continued at the end of the year. Following Felipe Benítez' killing, Epifanio Cantero, another leader of the Comisión Vecinal de Puente Kué, reportedly received anonymous death threats Reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees, including minors, by the police continued and conditions of detention remained harsh in police stations and prisons. Although in several cases formal criminal complaints of ill-treatment were lodged and, in some, judicial investigations opened, those responsible were not brought to justice. Three youths arrested in May on suspicion of stealing a motorcycle were reportedly tortured in a police station in the town of San Antonio, Central department. While held in the police station they were allegedly subjected to torture including beatings on the soles of their feet and having plastic bags placed over their heads to the point of near-asphyxiation. One of the youths was reportedly threatened with death if he complained about the torture Judicial investigations continued into torture and deaths in custody of political prisoners under the government of General Stroessner (see previous Amnesty International Reports). In May a custody order was issued against retired General Ramón Duarte Vera, a police chief in the 1950s and 1960s. He faced several trials on charges of serious human rights violations against former political prisoners. Paraguayan judicial officials cooperated in the investigation of "disappearances" in Argentina during the period of military rule between 1976 and 1983. In March, a former Argentine army major, Norberto Blanco, and his wife, Susana, were extradited to Argentina to face charges in connection with the illegal adoption of two children whose parents were believed to have "disappeared" after arrest by the Argentine security forces. The couple had moved to Paraguay with the children in 1987 after an Argentine court ordered the children to undergo genetic tests to determine their real identity In March, Amnesty International informed the UN Committee against Torture of its concerns in Paraguay. The Committee addressed many of these concerns in its recommendations to the Government of Paraguay (see above) In July, Amnesty International expressed concern to the government about the killing of Felipe Benítez and repeated death threats received by other peasant leaders.