The Foreign Ministry regretted with “deep concern” that the murders of the girls of Argentine nationality Lilian Mariana Villalba and María Carmen Villalba, which occurred a year ago in the department of Concepción, Paraguay, in the context of a military operation, are not yet clarified. Argentina also asked the Paraguayan government to allow the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) to collaborate in the investigation.
The 11-year-old cousins died on September 2, 2020 at the hands of the Joint Task Force (JTF), the Paraguayan military cell that is dedicated to persecuting and fighting the guerrillas of the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP). In all this elapsed time, the Lawyers Guild that judicially represents the Villalba family warns that the cause “advanced very little”.
On a very special and hard day for the family, Page12 talked with Myrian villalba, Lilian’s mother and María’s aunt. “We lost our two little girls in the cruelest way we ever imagined, at home there were only memories of their antics and in our lives a great emptiness and deep pain, a lot of helplessness in the face of so much cruelty and injustice, “said Villalba, who added that as a family “We do not resign ourselves to the loss, we seek their company, their talks and their hugs”.
The position of the Argentine Foreign Ministry
Through a release, the Argentine Foreign Ministry indicated that “regrets that to date the facts related to the death of the girls have not been clarified, and for this reason it has expressed its deep concern to the government of the Republic of Paraguay on numerous occasions. “He also pointed out that the Argentine government” has requested that, within the framework of the permanent and close bilateral relationship between both countries, the necessary steps are taken to investigate the facts, punish those responsible and make reparations to the victims’ families. “
In that context, Argentina asked the Paraguayan government “to facilitate access for members of the EAAF to collaborate with the investigation of the facts and to carry out an autopsy. That request, which was also raised by the Paraguayan Human Rights Coordinator, has so far been rejected by the Paraguayan authorities.
In addition, the Chancellery demanded “that allow access to administrative and judicial proceedings to the girls’ family members and representatives of the Argentine State“and stated his intention to”accompany with an amicus curiae the petition made by the victims’ families before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child “ in order to request an “independent, objective and impartial investigation that allows the clarification of the circumstances in which they were murdered.”
Myrian villalba She remarked that on Wednesday she was received at the San Martín Palace by Vice Chancellor Pablo Tettamanti and there “they once again ratify the position that the Argentine government has always had to demand the clarification of the double infanticide.” Villalba argued that “From the beginning the Argentine government has really behaved like a government that protects its citizens”.
This Thursday the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry released a statement to respond to the Argentine side, maintaining that the government “has made concrete proposals and expressed its willingness to share information related to the various investigation processes currently underway. ”
The Paraguayan Ministry of Foreign Relations regretted “the circumstances in which both girls lost their lives” although, in keeping with the position they have been maintaining regarding the double murder, condemned “in the most energetic manner the nefarious practice of the criminal group EPP of incorporating and training children and adolescents into its organization, women and men to participate in illicit activities “.
Villalba maintained that his family has no type of link with the Paraguayan government or access to the fiscal file. “Until now they deny us that right, that is obviously also due to the fact that absolutely nothing is being investigated,” he explained.
Laura taffetani, a member of the Bar Association that accompanies the Villalba family, agrees with Myrian. “There is no interest in investigating. The Attorney General of Paraguay, Sandra Quiñonez, has said in a public hearing that was held in the Senate that the FTC were his ‘partners’, so it is clear that they are not going to advance in the cause, “he remarked.
The fierce operative
On September 2, 2020, the FTC killed Lilian Mariana and María Carmen Villalba and announced that it had killed several members of that organization. Both girls of Argentine nationality and identified as daughters of leaders of the group They lived in the border area of Misiones together with relatives who had transferred them to Paraguay that day to visit their relatives in the guerrilla camp.
The operative, in which weapons, ammunition, cash and documentation were seized, was described as a success by the government presided over by Mario Abdo Benítez, who went to the scene of the events in a public exhibition that seemed more like a campaign act than a gesture of real concern about what was happening. The Villalba family and human rights organizations always rejected the official version and they denounced the destruction of evidence and the violation of investigation protocols.
“Myrian was not allowed to join the cause at the time because they question that Lilian would not be their daughter”added Taffetani along the same lines. The lawyer explained to this newspaper that “what has happened in the entire strategy that the Paraguayan government has had is to deny affiliation because they are Argentine, but the truth is that birth certificates demonstrate the fidelity of what is being said“.
The disappearance of Lichita
At the end of November 2020, the disappearance of a 15-year-old girl, Carmen Elizabeth Oviedo Villalba, was reported., Lilian and María’s cousin. “Lichita” was seen for the last time in Yby Yaú, the same jungle in which the minors were murdered.
An Argentine delegation that arrived in Paraguay on July 19 with the mission of looking for Lichita was expelled by the government of Abdo Benítez under the argument that they did not have the necessary permits to step on the territory. Paraguay’s Interior Minister, Arnaldo Giuzzio, had previously warned them that they could not enter the jungle area unless they did so in the company of the army, the institution that became a nightmare for the Villalba family.
The FTC, a branch of the Paraguayan army, was established in 2013 by then-President Horacio Cartes with the aim of fighting the EPP guerrillas. It is made up of military, police and elite anti-drug groups. In these years, reports of institutional abuse have accumulated, ranging from threats of execution to physical violence, according to the report “They brought us fear” of the Peace and Justice Service (Serpaj) in Paraguay.
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