(RSF/IFEX) – One the eve of the first anniversary of local radio journalist Enrique Galeano’s disappearance and probable murder on 4 February 2006 in Yby Yaú, in the southern department of Concepción, RSF has voiced outrage at the cynicism and inaction displayed by the authorities in this case. “President Nicanor Duarte Frutos personally received representatives […]
(RSF/IFEX) – One the eve of the first anniversary of local radio journalist Enrique Galeano’s disappearance and probable murder on 4 February 2006 in Yby Yaú, in the southern department of Concepción, RSF has voiced outrage at the cynicism and inaction displayed by the authorities in this case.
“President Nicanor Duarte Frutos personally received representatives from the Paraguayan Union of Journalists (Sindicato de Periodistas de Paraguay, SPP) and promised that all aspects of the case would be brought to light,” RSF said. “And with what result? A year later, none of the people linked to this murder has been questioned or arrested. Does this confirm Galeano’s revelations about the complicity of certain officials in drug trafficking?”
RSF added: “We express our support for the demonstrations being planned in homage to Galeano and we demand an explanation from President Duarte. A report on the investigation was supposed to have been sent to the Inter-American Commission on Human rights (IACHR) four months ago. What became of that?”
On the initiative of the SPP and other organisations, a national demonstration is to be held on 4 February 2007 in Yby Yaú, the town where Galeano lived and worked.
Shortly before disappearing, Galeano, who worked for local radio station Radio Azotey, covered the seizure of a shipment of cocaine and heavy weapons in the presence of local police chief Osvaldo Núñez and ruling Colorado Party Congress representative Magdaleno Silva, who are both suspected of links with Luiz Carlos Da Rocha, the alleged head of a Brazilian drug cartel known as “Cabeza Branca”.
Claiming that Galeano’s murder was probably linked to his love life, the police closed the investigation after three months and Núñez denied an interior ministry claim that Galeano had requested police protection because he felt he was in danger.
The SPP claims that Núñez ordered his subordinates to arrest Galeano and hand him over to Da Rocha’s thugs, who then killed him and dumped the body in a river. When President Duarte received an SPP delegation on 6 October, he formally agreed to a request for the investigation to be reopened, but nothing came of it.
A year after Galeano’s disappearance, Da Rocha is still at large, Silva is still a member of the Chamber of Representatives in the Congress and Núñez has been summoned to the Senate for a promotion.
