The family of former Vice President of Paraguay Óscar Denis, who celebrates two years in captivity this Friday, lamented that they are passing “to the shelves of oblivion for the Government and Justice”, while asking the guerrillas of the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP ) the coordinates to find his father.
In a statement, the daughters of the political leader declared themselves “significantly disappointed after two years without Óscar Denis” and also demanded the release of policeman Edelio Morínigo and rancher Félix Urbieta, kidnapped since 2014 and 2016, respectively.
“We have reached the second anniversary of dad’s kidnapping, observing with pain how we are passing to the shelves of oblivion for the Government and Justice, just like Edelio and Félix and like so many other victims in Paraguay,” said Beatriz Denis, who read to name of their relatives the document released during a press conference.
Denis, who was vice president during the administration of President Federico Franco (2012-2013), was kidnapped by the EPP during his stay in the department of Concepción (northeast), of which he was governor. Urbieta was held by members of the Army of Mariscal López (EML), a split from the EPP.
The Denis family complained that two years have passed “without clues, without progress in the investigation,” and “with no real desire to put an end to the lucrative business of kidnapping and extortion in Paraguay.”
In his statement, he referred to the EPP as “a group without scruples, without codes and without the slightest sense of humanity”, and warned that if it continues to commit its “despicable crimes”, it is “because of the existence of a permissive system and a complicit impunity”.
“That the EPP has been operating with impunity in Paraguay for more than 20 years, when they do not outnumber two or three criminal families, today recruited trainees, can mean two things: either our security agencies are completely lacking in ideas and strategies to combat them, or it is such a profitable business that you do not want to eradicate it,” the note warned.
And addressing the EPP, the family requested that they tell them “the coordinates where to find dad.”
“Two years of suffering is too much, it is inhumane – they add -, and inhumane treatment is contradictory to the message that you preach”.
They also sent a message to the electoral candidates asking them to make known “what their strategies are to combat the EPP and other criminal groups” and to find the disappeared and kidnapped.
Paraguay is preparing for primary elections next December, from which the candidates for the general elections in April next year will emerge.
During the press conference, in addition, Obdulia Florenciano, mother of Edelio Morínigo, recalled that her son has been deprived of his liberty for eight years, two months and four days.
“Don’t forget about them. There is my son Edelio Morínigo, Mr. Félix Urbieta and Mr. Óscar Denis, because if they forget about them, there is no more hope,” said this mother in Guarani.
For her part, Liliana Urbieta, daughter of Félix Urbieta, warned that, “as the situation is”, “another kidnapping could occur”, for which she asked for the support of citizens to have information that would allow her to find her relatives.
This Tuesday, the Senate approved a bill that seeks to increase the reward for anyone who offers information on these three hostages. The initiative must pass to the Deputies and later to the hands of the country’s president, Mario Abdo Benítez, for his sanction. EFE
