(SPP/IFEX) – The SPP is concerned about the repeated threats and harassment of our colleague, journalist Aldo Lezcano, of Ybybcuí, by groups associated with Colorado Party (Partido Colorado) Senator Julio César Fanego. Ybycuí is a town in Paraguarí department. The Colorado Party is currently in power nationally. Lezcano is being continuously harassed, by both Fanego […]
(SPP/IFEX) – The SPP is concerned about the repeated threats and harassment of our colleague, journalist Aldo Lezcano, of Ybybcuí, by groups associated with Colorado Party (Partido Colorado) Senator Julio César Fanego. Ybycuí is a town in Paraguarí department. The Colorado Party is currently in power nationally.
Lezcano is being continuously harassed, by both Fanego directly and his henchmen, in a systematic campaign that has been in progress for several years, and that intensifies every time there are elections.
In years prior to 2006, Lezcano’s brother has been the target of terrifying shooting incidents, which are presumed to be part of the harassment against the journalist for his work.
Another journalist in Ybycuí, who has asked SPP not to reveal his name, has been taken under the protection of the SPP after he received death threats.
The SPP believes that Senator Fanego leads a political clique ever more closely tied to organised crime in Paraguarí. Other politicians with similar ties include Magdaleno Silva in Concepción Department, Julián Sosa in Ybycuí Department, and Wildo Legal in Caaguzú Department, among others.
The SPP expresses its solidarity with Lezcano and demands that his case be investigated and that those attempting to silence critical voices be punished.
SPP also asks for its members and for members of other social organizations to join efforts to halt the attacks on press workers and put an end to the state terrorism which currently reigns in Paraguay.
