Drug lords plague Paraguayan politics.
| Autor | Gaudin, Andres |
Although Paraguay doesn't figure prominently on the world drug-trafficking map either as a producer or distribution point, drug mafias are increasingly present, taking an active role in the battle for political power in several arenas of that South American country.
Everything--from the assassination of campesino leaders and journalists to the adoption of a law or the election of political-party leaders--is riddled with the actions of illegal groups. In recent weeks, Magdaleno Silva, an ex-deputy from the Asociacion Nacional Republicana/Partido Colorado (ANR-PC) was assassinated; a PC senator (Carlos Sanchez) was detained; and another PC senator (Mario Abdo Benitez) headed up a group of legislators who distanced themselves from the administration and proposed revising some of the laws that President Horacio Cartes, also from the PC, had defined as "top priority to keep the government going." The mafia, either directly or indirectly, can be seen in each and every one of these events.
Mafia-type hit
As a legislator, Magdaleno Silva did not leave a legacy. In his five years in office, he never presented a bill or participated in legislative debates. He was assassinated along with one of his sons in broad daylight on May 5 when a group of hooded assailants pelleted the door of his Yby Yau, Concepcion, home with gunshots. Yby Yau, some 350 km north of Paraguay's capital Asuncion, is in an area near the Brazilian border that has been identified as drug-trafficker territory.
Minutes after his death, the daily Ultima Hora launched what would become the first critical view of the politician. The newspaper said that Silva "handled the political life of Concepcion as if he were a feudal lord," and it reproduced a journalistic report from 2007, when Silva was still in office, quoting people in the department saying he was "an unscrupulous political boss" and "a man who acted as though his wishes were the only law."
Testimonials that carried institutional weight followed. Bishop Emeritus Zacarias Ortiz of Concepcion said, "Ex-deputy Silva was a man who acted as if he were above the law, appearing like the typical mafia padrino."
Lilian Samaniego, PC national president, asked that the episode not be politicized but made a statement connecting the assassination with the drug mafia. "Our party," she said, "regrets that organized crime is settling in in the country." The PC leader then made a surprising revelation when she said she had met with Interior...
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