Paraguay rebel: Anger as body taken into jail for farewell

Paraguay's president has sacked his justice minister after it emerged that the body of a slain rebel had been taken into a women's prison so his jailed sister could bid him farewell.

The move caused outrage among relatives of the victims of the rebel group.

The dead rebel, Osvaldo Villalba, and his sister Carmen were top members of the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP).

The group has killed and kidnapped dozens of people. Osvaldo Villalba, 39, was killed by soldiers on Sunday.

He had become the leader of the small but violent guerrilla group after its commanders, including his older sister Carmen, were jailed.

On Tuesday, relatives carried his coffin - with the body inside - to the entrance of the Good Shepherd prison, where Carmen Villalba is serving a long sentence for the attempted murder of three police officers during a foiled jailbreak in 2004.

At first, Minister of Justice Édgar Taboada turned the group away, saying he had been "surprised" by the arrival of the coffin.

He said that there had been instances in the past in which inmates had been allowed to attend the funerals of loved ones but that a request had to be made in advance and security needed to be arranged.

After being turned away, the funeral cortege proceeded to a nearby cemetery but after only a few minutes, it returned to the prison and this time, the coffin was allowed in with an escort of dozens of riot police.

Paraguayan media say Carmen Villalba, who co-founded the EPP and recruited her brother when he was still a teenager, was allowed to spend five minutes with the coffin.

Mr Taboada, who had only been sworn in as minister of justice earlier on Tuesday, told Paraguayan radio that the director of the prison had told him that inmates had threatened to riot unless Carmen Villalba was allowed to see her brother's body.

He said that eventually authorities took the decision to allow the body in "to avoid worse" from happening.

Later on Tuesday, the office of President Mario Abdo Benítez announced that Mr Taboada had been sacked, along with the head of a women's prison.

The unusual move caused outrage among many Paraguayans and in particular among the relatives of three men who were kidnapped by the EPP years ago.

The family of former Vice-President Óscar Denis, who was kidnapped by the EPP in 2020 and whose whereabouts are still unknown, said the government was "romanticising terrorism and insulting the memory of the victims of the EPP".

Relatives of Félix Urbieta, a rancher who was seized by the rebels six years ago, said in an open letter that "today, reason and common sense died".

Many commentators have also warned that giving in to demand in the face of threats set a dangerous precedent.