Paraguayan People's Army

Paraguayan People's Army
Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo
LeadersOsvaldo Villalba †
Manuel Cristaldo Mieres
Magna Meza
Carmen Villalba
Osmar Martínez †
Dates of operation1 March 2008 – present
MotivesOverthrow the Paraguayan government and establish a socialist State
HeadquartersHorqueta
Active regions Paraguay
Ideology
Political positionFar-left
StatusActive
Size100–1000 militants approx. (2021)[citation needed]
Allies FARC
ELN
FPMR
Primeiro Comando da Capital
Opponents Paraguay
Battles and warsInsurgency in Paraguay
Designated as a terrorist group by Paraguay
Colours
  Green
  Red
Banner

The Paraguayan People's Army (Spanish: Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo, EPP) is a Marxist-Leninist[3] guerrilla group that officially operates in Paraguay since March 1, 2008, although its antecedents go back as far as the 1990s, acting at that time as the "clandestine armed wing" of Patria Libre (a communist party founded in 1990).

They operate in a similar way to other insurgent Latin American left-wing paramilitary guerrillas in times of dictatorships, claiming expropriations and kidnappings against businessmen, bankers and ranchers in the area in which the EPP operates and has staged a number of armed operations, including bombings, arson attacks, shootings as part of an organized insurgency. They operate in northeastern Paraguay, with most incidents occurring in Concepción Department, as well as the neighboring departments of Canindeyú and San Pedro.[4] According to the Paraguayan government, in its beginnings, its first leaders and members were trained by members of regional guerrilla groups, such as the FARC of Colombia, or the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front of Chile, among others.[5][6][7]

As of March 2012, the group was suspected of carrying out 27 separate operations, with more than half of them occurring after January 2011. These incidents resulted in the deaths of at least 16 people — 9 civilians and 7 police officers.[8] By December 2013, the insurgency resulted in killing of at least 33 civilians and police officers,[9] with an unknown number of killed EPP operatives.[9] By mid 2020, fatalities from the insurgency had surpassed 70, most of them civilians and police.

According to investigations by the Joint Task Forces (a special counterinsurgency unit made up of police, military and other state agents created in 2013), the EPP has millions of dollars collected in kidnappings, extortion, expropriations and even contributions from neighbors and supporters. To this day, they continue to gain followers in the area, given the void left by the Paraguayan State.

  1. ^ "EPP se burla de Cartes al ofrecer recompensa" (in Spanish). Ultima Hora. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  2. ^ "EPP admite error en secuestro de Wiebe y exige repartir víveres para liberarlo - Edicion Impresa - ABC Color" (in European Spanish). Color ABC. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  3. ^ ultimahora.com. "Paraguay: Ejército Paraguayo del Pueblo ya incursiona militarmente". ultimahora.com. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
  4. ^ Infosurhoy.com. "Paraguay: Government increases presence to combat EPP". Infosurhoy. Archived from the original on 2014-04-06. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  5. ^ "El EPP se dividió para sobrevivir en el monte, dice la FTC". ultimahora.com (in European Spanish). 15 April 2018. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  6. ^ "El EPP creci y ya cuenta con unos 150 soldados, revel alto jefe policial". Radio Imperio FM. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  7. ^ "¿Cuánto poder tiene el EPP, la guerrilla que cometió la peor matanza de militares en los últimos años en Paraguay?". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  8. ^ Ramsey, Geoffrey (March 6, 2012). "Tracking the Rise of Paraguay's Rebel Army". In Sight Crime.
  9. ^ a b "The EPP has now killed 33 people, including police officers and civilians, since 2005, the government said." [1]