Yby Yaú, northern Paraguay, 3 September 2020. Armed with an M-16 assault rifle and a Beretta M9 pistol, a task force of special forces and police crept through the rainforest. In a rain forest of lawlessness and lack of legal constraints, anything can happen, and the members of the task force are highly nervous, with their fingers on the trigger, ready to respond to unexpected situations. Soon they approached a camp and managed to surround it, when suddenly someone in the camp shouted, "¡El ejército está aquí!" (The army is coming!) For a moment, gunfire was loud, bullets were flying, and the smell of gunpowder filled the air.
After the gunfire subsided, the task force found the bodies of two 11-year-old girls at the scene. As soon as the news came out, it immediately caused a sensation among South American countries. Killing children, everyone knows why? Soon the Paraguayan military confirmed that the girl who lost her life had Argentine nationality and condemned the Paraguayan People's Army, which they had attacked, for creating a "nursery" for guerrilla fighters and recruiting minors into the army.
Paraguayan people's camp destroyed by the contingent.
Guns abandoned before the guerrillas hastily evacuated.
The special service buried the girls' bodies on the same day as the fierce battle, and their clothes were burned by the task force in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Paraguayan military seized a large number of weapons, explosives and $16,000 in cash in guerrilla camps.
Paraguay People's Army, Spanish Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo, or EPP for short – is a new word for many Malaysians. Paraguay is known only by its powerful footballers, the so-called polygamy and, of course, Paraguay is also the last so-called "country with diplomatic relations" in The South American region of Taiwan Province of China.
Compared with the rebels in other countries in South America, the Paraguayan People's Army is a rising star. Founded in 1997, the group's members were originally from the Patria Libre Party, with its backbone members being Oviedo Britez, the current leader of the Paraguayan People's Army, his fiancée Carmen Villalba and Juan Arrom Suhurt. The Government of Paraguay has always suspected that the Paraguayan People's Army is linked to the Far-Around Forces of Colombia, colombia's largest rebel arm, far from the Far Colombian Armed Forces.
The fact that the Paraguayan People's Army had looted banks and kidnapped extortion as a source of funding for the organization at the outset of its establishment had also had a negative impact on its public image. In 2001, for example, they kidnapped the wife of antonio Debernardi, a local businessman, and extorted $1 million. The hostages are released after paying the ransom. While many of those kidnapped by the group were released after paying a ransom, others were not so lucky.
The most gruesome abduction by the Paraguayan People's Army occurred in 2004. A guerrilla group kidnaps former President Raúl Cubas' daughter, Cecilia Cubas, at gunpoint outside her home in San Lorenzo. It is said that when Cecilia saw the kidnappers and tried to drive away, the kidnappers immediately shot and forced the car to stop, dragging Cecilia out of the car and kidnapping her. The Paraguayan People's Army immediately extorted $300,000 from the former president's family, and despite the ransom paid, Cecilia was killed by the guerrillas. In February 2005, the body of former President Qianjin was found in a shallow grave, and investigators believe she was buried alive.
The murder of former President Cecilia Couvas after her abduction shocked the whole of Paraguay.
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11 years after Cecilia's murder, the Paraguayan media reported on the recollections of the tragedy (in Spanish).
Despite the Paraguayan military's heightened security posture, the country's elusive rebels are rapidly increasing and have significantly stepped up operations since 2011.
In October 2011, the Paraguayan government declared a 60-day state of emergency in the northern provinces of Concepción and San Pedro in order to arrest members of the Paraguayan People's Army, and thousands of military police dug three feet into the ground to arrest the guerrillas. Vice President Federico Franco also promised to "wage war" until the guerrillas were completely wiped out. But despite the troops being deployed to guerrilla activities frequently in the northern region, not a single high-profile arrest took place. The EPP even issued a statement mocking the security forces.
"Their so-called state of emergency is full of lies, they can't find us at all, and we are very willing to fight with them, but they often avoid fighting."
--- EPP issued a statement
The large soldiers pressed the border to hunt down the guerrillas, and the result was that the cannons hit the flies, and they were stunned that they could not find the main force of the guerrillas.
The Paraguayan government was extremely embarrassed by the guerrillas' statements, and in the face of questions from Congress, interior minister Carlos Filizzola had to admit afterwards that the action had not achieved specific goals at all. The Government of Paraguay has repeatedly declared that the Paraguayan People's Army is a hopeless amateur group and is not to be worried about. In January 2011, the military destroyed a guerrilla "training camp" and seized pamphlets promoting the revolution and wooden weapons used for training. This has led some analysts to question the organization's organizational level. One rancher who was taken hostage claimed that the group boasted that they themselves had received training in Venezuela and Colombia, suggesting that the group may not be as amateurish as previously thought.
According to U.S. media reports, at the same time as government forces conducted "fruitless" manhunts, the Paraguayan People's Army launched 27 armed operations (including ambushes and assassinations; explosions and arson attacks) throughout the country; since the beginning of 2005, there have been a number of kidnappings in the north of the country, more than half of which occurred in 2010 and 2011, and 11 in 2011 alone.
During the period of full encirclement and suppression by the government forces, the guerrilla attacks in the northern provinces continued unabated.
In parallel with the attacks, the Paraguayan People's Army has become more adept at using political means to win the support of the rural poor. For example, on 26 February 2012, a ranch in the northern part of the province of Concepción was attacked. After destroying pastures and slaughtering livestock, guerrilla members gave meat to the poor in the nearby indigenous countryside. The purpose of the campaign is clear, and it does have some effect: some indigenous communities in the local area refuse to provide assistance from the local government.
In view of the fact that the state of emergency has hardly affected the activities of the Paraguayan People's Army, the Government of Paraguay has begun to consider deepening the involvement of the army and military intelligence in the strategy of combating guerrillas.
Then it won't all change until 2013...
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