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News > Latin America

Paraguay Guards Accused of Attacking Indigenous Community

  • The attackers allegedly fired shots at their homes and proceeded to burn them down, forcing the families to flee to nearby mountains. 

    The attackers allegedly fired shots at their homes and proceeded to burn them down, forcing the families to flee to nearby mountains.  | Photo: Handout via ABC Color

Published 12 May 2017
Opinion

The attackers allegedly fired shots at their homes and proceeded to burn them down, forcing the families to flee to nearby mountains. 

The Paraguayan Attorney General’s Office on Friday ordered three guards belonging to a security firm to be charged with assaulting an Indigenous community with firearms earlier this week.

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Three Paraguayan guards were charged for being responsible for the attacks on the Indigenous "July 3" community of Italkyry, in Alto Parana on Monday.

Prosecutors asked Paraguay’s Criminal Court of Guarantees to detain Ismael Barrios, Marcos Torales and his son Marcos Torales Paniagua for having acted under the influence of alcohol and using firearms against the Indigenous community.

The security guards belong to the firm Inpasa, which has previously been probed for alleged illegal activities. 

On Monday morning, the guards — accompanied by local resident Luciano Villalba Acosta and ten other unidentified people — attacked the Indigenous tribe.

The attackers allegedly fired shots at their homes and proceeded to burn them down, forcing the families to flee to nearby mountains. 

Local sources said that Villalba negotiated the seizure of the land for Inpasa and forcibly evicted the families for corporate gain. 

Paraguayan Ombudsman Miguel Godoy denounced those accused of coercion and usurpation of public functions before the Prosecutor's Office.

Godoy said that Marcos Torales does not work as a security guard, but rather as a lawyer for the firm, and accused him of ordering the attack.

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