The national chancellor, Julio César Arriola, reiterated this Thursday the complaint of our country to UNHCR for the processes that allowed to give refuge to three left-wing activists required by the Paraguayan Justice for an alleged kidnapping.
Source: EFE
Arriola addressed the issue during a meeting in Asunción with the regional representative of the United Nations Refugee Agency for Southern Latin America (UNHCR), Juan Carlos Murillo, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
The Government accuses Juan Arrom, Anuncio Martí and Víctor Colmán of having participated in the late 2001 kidnapping of María Edith Bordón, daughter-in-law of former Minister of Finance Enzo Debernardi, and of being part of the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) criminal group. .
According to the Foreign Ministry, Arriola “reiterated the Paraguayan State’s energetic protest for the conduct of the processes that made possible the granting of refugee status and the resettlement by both Uruguay and Finland” of Arrom, Martí and Colmán.
It also “drew attention to the role of UNHCR in the process that allowed these people to benefit from refuge.”
In this regard, it considered that, since they were persons “prosecuted for the commission of a common punishable act” in their country, “they cannot continue to enjoy refuge.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs indicated that Paraguay presented, through its diplomatic offices in Uruguay and Germany (concurrent for Finland), the documentation for the “review and cancellation of refugee status.”
Last November, Asunción expressed its surprise and established a protest in front of the Uruguayan embassy after that country decided to maintain the status of refugees for these three citizens.
After Uruguay gave them refuge in 2019, the defendants obtained asylum in Finland, where they currently live, thanks to the efforts of UNHCR.
