Brazil & Southern Cone - June 2013 (ISSN 1741-4431)

The 31 May murder of wealthy cattle rancher, Luis Alberto Lindstron Picco, shocked all of Paraguay. Lindstron gained national notoriety for being the first kidnap victim of the insurgent Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo (EPP) back in July 2008. Following his release after 43 days, upon payment of a substantial ransom by his family, Lindstron refused to collaborate with the authorities’ efforts to capture his abductors, maintaining that he would prefer not antagonise the EPP and instead try to return to his previous low-profile lifestyle. In spite of this, Lindstron was brutally murdered in an armed attack that had all the hallmarks of the EPP, raising serious concerns about the continued inability of the country’s authorities to come to grips with the security threat posed by the group.

The only sign of the EPP in the first three months of 2013 was when the authorities arrested a number of people suspected of links to the group in the northern Concepción department, the EPP’s main area of activity. The first attack attributed to the EPP came on Election Day (21April), when two gunmen targeted a police station in Concepción. Two police officers and one gunman died, with other officers wounded [RBS-13-04]. Such attacks on security forces stationed in Concepción (and across its southern border in areas of San Pedro department, where the EPP is also active) perhaps were to be expected. However, that the EPP would once again begin targeting civilians was not.

After the EPP’s last kidnapping (that of Fidel Zavala Serrati, another wealthy cattle rancher, abducted in October 2009 and released 94 days later upon payment of another ransom), the government launched a mass security clampdown in Concepción that appeared to produce results. Several known EPP members have been arrested and/or killed by the security forces since then and the group appeared to have been severely weakened. EPP activities had been reduced to ‘revenge attacks’ on the security forces and on individuals previously linked with the group that it suspected of helping the authorities to track down its members. The authorities maintained that the EPP was on the retreat and a reduced threat. This came into question after Lindstron’s murder.

Lindstron, who continued to live and work near the town of Tacuatí in northern San Pedro, from where he was abducted in 2008, was ambushed as he was driving back to his ranch. According to press reports, his vehicle was shot at by gunmen hidden in wooded areas on the side of the road, causing him to crash into a tree. The attackers then “executed” Lindstron, shooting him 15 times according to police reports. Despite the lack of clues, the EPP immediately became the main suspect given Lindstron’s previous connections with the group. It has emerged since that some of Lindstron’s employees clearing forested areas on his ranch had received threats from the EPP ordering them to stop on pain of death. A contractor, Santiago Morel Leiva, was murdered in the area in obscure circumstances just weeks before Lindstron’s death.  Lindstron’s lands lie in a densely wooded area near the San Pedro-Concepción border, an area known to be used by the EPP as a hideout. Lindstron’s brother, Aníbal, has revealed that Luis had continued to pay protection money to the EPP to “buy his safety” (see sidebar).

President Federico Franco condemned the murder. He pinned it on the EPP, making the point that the incident occurred just days after the arrest of a known EPP member, Alcides Godoy. On 1 June, Franco travelled to Tacuatí to oversee personally a military-police operation in the area to find those responsible (so far two people have been arrested in connection with the case). He promised that his administration would continue fighting the EPP. Similarly, President-Elect Horacio Cartes, who is due to take office on 15 August, also lamented the murder and said his incoming government would continue to “hunt down these criminals”.

• Aníbal Lindstron’s revelations

In addition to revealing that the EPP had never stopped harassing his brother and that he continued to pay protection money, Aníbal Lindstron alleged that corrupt and disinterested local police had failed to do anything about the EPP. “Officers don’t obey orders from their commanders, the interior minister, or even the president. They all know they might not be around come 15 August”, he remarked, expressing hope that “after August there will be more positive results”. Aníbal also said that his brother had told him that the EPP enjoyed the support of “well-known politicians”. He refused to names names but vowed to “tell [president-elect] Cartes all, after he assumes office”.