VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAC #0709/01 2941349
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 201349Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASUNCION
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7319
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

S E C R E T ASUNCION 000709 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR DS/DSS/ITA, DS/IP/WHA, AND WHA/BSC MDASCHBACH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2028 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PINS PGOV PA BR AR
SUBJECT: PPL MEMBERS INDICTED FOR KIDNAPPING AS LAND 
DISPUTES HEAT UP 
 
REF: A. 06 ASUN 1208 
     ¶B. ASUN 181 
 
Classified By: DCM Michael J. Fitzpatrick for reasons 1.4 (b) 
and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: Paraguayan authorities indicted former Free 
Fatherland Party (PPL) members Manuel Cristaldo Mieres and 
Osvaldo Villalba September 23 for the kidnapping (and 
post-ransom release) of former Tacuati mayor and wealthy 
rancher Luis Alberto Lindstron.  Whether politically or just 
financially motivated, the Lindstron kidnapping has 
heightened already high tensions in the San Pedro and 
Concepcion departments, as landless peasant movements -- some 
of them armed -- appear actively seeking confrontation with 
"Braziguayo" large-scale landholders.  Meanwhile, press 
reports suggest that Argentina has decided not to extend 
political asylum to six PPL members being held there pending 
extradition to Paraguay for previous kidnappings.  The issues 
of unjust land titling and armed violence for political 
purposes are thus pushing onto the Lugo Administration's 
agenda -- whether it is ready or not. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (C)  Paraguayan authorities indicted former Free 
Fatherland Party (PPL) members Manuel Cristaldo-Mieres and 
Osvaldo Villalba September 23 in connection with the 
kidnapping of rancher and former mayor of Tacuati (San Pedro, 
Department) Luis Alberto Lindstron.  Five subjects kidnapped 
Lindstron July 31 in Horqueta, Concepcion Department (near 
the border with San Pedro) and released him September 12 
after Lindstron's family paid the kidnappers USD 300,000. 
Cristaldo Miers and Villalba -- who are still at large -- are 
also wanted for their alleged roles in the 2004 kidnapping 
and 2005 murder of Cecilia Cubas, the daughter of former 
President Raul Cubas Grau (ref A).  Prosecutors indicted 
Cristaldo and Villalba based on testimonies given by 
Lindstron and his brother, Amado Lindstron, who publicly 
claimed that he delivered the ransom money to a man he 
subsequently identified from pictures as Cristaldo Miers. 
 
¶3.  (C) The Ultima Hora newspaper reported September 20 that 
prosecutors believe Cristaldo and Mieres targeted Lindstron 
as a wealthy rancher.  Prosecutor Alejo Vera told the press 
that the group possesses M-16 rifles, hand grenades, 
camouflaged uniforms, and rubber boots similar to ones used 
by the FARC. Prosecutor Sandra Quinonez told the Regional 
Legal Advisor (RLA) September 22 she was certain that 
Lindstron's kidnappers also abducted Cubas and Maria Bordon 
de Debernardi, the wife of a wealthy businessman who was 
kidnapped in 2001.  Quinonez alleged that the kidnappers are 
former PPL members with proven, historical ties to the FARC 
based on evidence presented during the Cubas trial.  She 
noted that Lindstron's kidnappers repeatedly invoked a phrase 
during ransom negotiated used by PPL members who kidnapped 
Cubas and Debernardi -- "Don't hurt the poor; hurt the rich." 
 She also told RLA that prosecutors confiscated from former 
PPL members in Tacumbu Prison cellphones and a list of 
potential kidnapping victims that included the names of other 
ranchers in Concepcion and San Pedro departments.  Unlike the 
urban kidnappings pursued by the PPL in years past, Lindstron 
was not confined in a house or in a single place; he was kept 
on the move in the countryside throughout his 42 days of 
captivity.  His captors received some level of support from 
local communities they passed near, and, he concluded, 
clearly knew the area very well. San Pedro and Concepcion 
Departments, meanwhile, remain the scenes of heightened 
tensions over campesino land invasions and threats of armed 
conflict between various "landless" peasant movements -- some 
of them now reportedly armed -- and "Braziguayo" largescale 
land-holders (mostly cattlemen or soy producers) and the 
police. 
 
¶4.  (S/NF) Post has no evidence that Lindstron's kidnappers 
maintain any current direct links to the FARC or other 
foreign revolutionary groups.  An e-mail message from 
Villalba found on FARC leader Raul Reyes' laptop computer 
indicated that the PPL owed the FARC USD 300,000 for its 
share of the ransom collected following Debernardi's 2001 
kidnapping.  Sensitive reporting has not revealed any direct 
links between former PPL members and the FARC since the 2004 
Cecilia Cubas kidnapping.  Absent better information on the 
membership of the two groups, no links have surfaced between 
the so-called Paraguayan People's Army (EPP), an armed group 
that vandalized a ranch in Concepcion Department March 12 and 
is said to be formed by former members of the PPL (ref B), 
and Lindstron's kidnappers.  That said, imprisoned former PPL 
member Carmen Villalba -- and Osvaldo Villalba's sister -- 
confirmed the existence of the EPP in March and claimed to 
serve as its "spokesperson," something she has repeated to 
the media as recently as October 18.  However, the EPP has 
not claimed responsibility for any acts of violence since 
March, and Lindstron's kidnappers did not ever identify 
themselves to Lindstron or the public as EPP (or anyone 
else). The absence of the trumpeting of any such 
revolutionary self-identification, however, is not proof of 
its non-existence -- as thousands kidnapped by (or sold to) 
the FARC or ELN in Colombia can attest.  And if Lindstron's 
brother is to be believed, he did directly pay the ransom to 
an ex-PPL leader on the run and believed now tied to the 
amorphous EPP. 
 
¶5. (C) Coincidentally, Paraguayan media report that 
Argentina's Interior Minister announced October 10 that 
Argentina has decided not to grant political asylum to six 
PPL members currently incarcerated at Marco Paz Prison 
outside Buenos Aires pursuant to a Paraguayan extradition 
request.  The Argentine Supreme Court reportedly must now 
confirm the government's decision before the six -- now on 
hunger strikes -- can be returned to Paraguay. 
 
¶6.  (C) COMMENT: Despite using weapons, clothing, and 
rhetoric that mimic the FARC, witness testimony and 
prosecutors' statements thus far suggest Lindstron's 
kidnappers are operating autonomously.  But there is no 
evidence upon which to conclude that the band has given up 
armed struggle and are now purely commercial kidnappers.  It 
seems more likely that, like the FARC, PPL remnants are 
intent -- no matter the long odds -- on using seemingly 
apolitical kidnappings both to destabilize rural society and 
to obtain an important revenue stream ultimately destined for 
promoting revolutionary activity.  While any armed group  -- 
political or not -- in rural San Pedro or Concepcion is not 
now an existential threat to the Lugo government, continuing 
reports of their presence comes in the midst of rising 
numbers of campesino land invasions (some of which have led 
to deaths in police confrontations), heightened fears of 
kidnappings, new restrictions on land titling, increased 
anti-Brazilian sentiments -- and the potential for much more 
of the same.  As such, it is an issue the Lugo government 
cannot afford to ignore.  END COMMENT. 
 
Please visit us at     http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/asuncion 
 
AYALDE