This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ASUNCION 000200 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/AND, AND USOAS 
DEPT PASS TO USAID LAC/AA 
EMBASSY BUENOS AIRES FOR LEGATT 
NSC FOR TOM SHANNON/KIM BREIER 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD DAN JOHNSON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2015 
TAGS: PTER PINR PREL PGOV KCRM PA
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY'S GROWING CONCERN ABOUT LEFTIST 
(INCLUDING FARC) THREAT 
 
REF: A. ASUNCION 00199 
     ¶B. 04 ASUNCION 01247 
     ¶C. ASUNCION 00148 
     ¶D. 04 ASUNCION 01602 
     ¶E. ASUNCION 00152 
     ¶F. ASUNCION 00188 
 
Classified By: Charge Kevin M. Johnson, reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (S) Summary: Paraguayan authorities have arrested suspects 
tied to the leftist Free Fatherland Party (Partido Patria 
Libre, or PPL) in connection with the ongoing kidnapping of 
Cecilia Cubas.  Telephone records connect the suspects to the 
kidnapping and ransom negotiations.  The GOP claims evidence 
showing PPL ties to the FARC in Colombia and Bolivarian 
Circles in Venezuela, and direct FARC involvement in 
supporting the Cubas kidnapping (ref A).  Other leftist 
organizations' solidarity with the PPL lends additional 
credence to the growing belief that the PPL seeks to organize 
an opposition movement in the countryside, with FARC 
assistance.  President Duarte's recent actions suggest he is 
taking the threat of leftist subversion and criminality more 
seriously.  End Summary. 
 
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The Abduction 
------------- 
¶2. (C) On September 21, a group of armed assailants kidnapped 
former President Raul Cubas' 31-year-old daughter, Cecilia 
Cubas (ref B).  The investigation got off to a slow start, in 
large part because the Cubas family initially rejected offers 
of official assistance with the ransom negotiations, but also 
because Paraguayan authorities were disorganized and slow to 
pursue several important leads.  Ms. Cubas' whereabouts 
remain unknown. 
 
------------------------------- 
PPL Members Linked to the Crime 
------------------------------- 
¶3. (U) The investigation finally produced a string of arrests 
in late January, based primarily on telephone records that 
connect at least seven suspects to the kidnapping and 
subsequent ransom negotiations (ref C).  At least two of the 
seven suspects in custody, Osmar Martinez and Anastasio 
Mieres Burgos, have clear ties to the PPL.  Another, Jose 
Martinez, is Osmar Martinez's brother.  An eighth suspect, 
Manuel Cristaldo Mieres, still at large, is Anastasio Mieres 
Burgos' nephew. 
 
¶4. (U) Note: The PPL was outlawed for advocating the violent 
overthrow of the government after its two most prominent 
members, Juan Arrom and Anuncio Marti, were implicated in the 
2001 kidnapping of Maria Edith DiBernardi (ref D).  Arrom and 
Marti were later granted political asylum in Brazil based on 
allegations that they were tortured by police while in 
custody.  End Note. 
 
¶5. (U) According to statements Arrom has made to the press 
regarding the Cubas investigation, Osmar Martinez and 
Anastasio Mieres Burgos were expelled from the PPL in October 
¶2004.  However, Arrom has denounced the investigation as an 
attempt to "discredit, persecute and repress" the PPL for 
"political reasons."  Marti has complained that PPL members 
are being subjected to human rights abuses, and has expressed 
his solidarity with those being "persecuted" by the GOP. 
 
--------------------------- 
PPL Connections to the FARC 
--------------------------- 
¶6. (S) President Duarte and Attorney General Oscar Latorre 
previously reported that Colombian insurgents had helped the 
PPL in criminal activities to raise funds, such as bank 
robberies and roadside heists, and in organizing unrest in 
the countryside (ref E).  On February 8, Latorre told Charge 
and the Colombian Ambassador to Paraguay that the GOP also 
has evidence of direct FARC involvement in supporting the 
Cubas kidnapping (ref A). 
 
¶7. (S) Consistent with what the GOP has told EmbOffs, 
Colombian PolOff Raul Sanchez told PolOff that Colombian 
intelligence has evidence of email communication between PPL 
members and the FARC in Colombia and Bolivarian Circles in 
Venezuela.  Additionally, at least three PPL members, Anuncio 
Marti, Victor Colman and Osmar Martinez, have traveled to 
Colombia on several occasions. 
 
¶8. (U) In recent statements to the press, Osmar Martinez 
admitted that the PPL has "friendly relations" with the FARC, 
but denied that the PPL is involved in violent criminal 
activity. 
---------------------------------------- 
Support from Other Leftist Organizations 
---------------------------------------- 
¶9. (U) Other leftist organizations in Paraguay have voiced 
solidarity and support for the PPL since the January arrests. 
 The Patriotic Front (Frente Patriotico, or FP) denounced the 
GOP's "institutional imputation of blame for kidnappings on 
dissident opposition parties," and filed a complaint with the 
Human Rights Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.  (Note: 
The FP comprises six leftist political parties, none of which 
is represented at the national level.  It was created in 
December 2004, when it elected a unified leadership structure 
in preparation for the 2008 presidential elections.  End 
Note.) 
 
¶10. (U) Leftist campesino organizations also have voiced 
their support for the PPL.  Antonio Galeano of the National 
Front for the Struggle for Sovereignty and Life (Frente 
Nacional de Lucha por la Soberania y la Vida, or FNLSV) 
decried the kidnapping investigation as a "witch hunt" and 
denounced alleged abuses by the authorities.  Luis Aguayo of 
the National Coordinating Board of Campesino Organizations 
(Mesa Coordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas, or 
MCNOC) characterized the PPL arrests as "persecution" and 
"human rights abuses," and affirmed the MCNOC's solidarity 
with the arrested PPL members.  (Note: These organizations 
did not merely demand evidence proving PPL involvement in the 
kidnapping -- a reasonable request given Paraguay's history 
and judicial system -- but simply declared the PPL innocent, 
in a clearly political move.  End Note.) 
 
¶11. (C) Comment: The PPL members linked to the Cubas 
kidnapping hail from the Departments of San Pedro and 
Caaguazu, the two regions of greatest anti-government 
campesino activity.  This fact and the campesino 
organizations' expressions of solidarity with the PPL lend 
additional credence to the growing belief that the PPL seeks 
to organize an opposition movement in the countryside, with 
FARC assistance.  End Comment. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Cuban Embassy Enters the Picture 
-------------------------------- 
¶12. (C) A GOP source also told EmbOff that the Cuban Embassy 
hosted a meeting on January 27, which MCNOC representatives 
attended, to discuss the alleged persecution of leftist party 
members by Paraguayan authorities conducting the kidnapping 
investigation and a proposal to further unite the leftist 
movement in Paraguay. 
 
---------------------- 
Duarte Out of Patience 
---------------------- 
¶13. (C) Comment: Leftist involvement in the Cubas kidnapping 
appears to have been the "last straw" for President Duarte. 
Initial warnings from his own allies in 2003 about the Cuban 
Doctors' activities in the countryside and other attempts to 
exploit rural grievances for political purposes made little 
apparent impression on Duarte.  As campesino unrest grew in 
2004, Duarte took a harder line and with the Cubas kidnapping 
is convinced leftists here and abroad seek to undermine his 
government.  Duarte's support for Colombian President Alvaro 
Uribe (ref E) and the recent GOP decision to terminate the 
Cuban Doctors program (ref F) suggest that Duarte is taking 
the threat of leftist subversion and criminality seriously. 
End Comment. 
JOHNSON