One year after kidnap, family of Paraguay’s former vice-president does not give up hope

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On September 9, 2020, armed men took Óscar Denis Sánchez, who served as vice-president of Paraguay between 2012 and 2013. His vehicle was found near his home in the northeast of the country, with flyers of the Marxist ideology paramilitary organization Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP).

This is a painful memory for the victim’s eldest daughter Beatriz Denis.

“It has been a year since the worst nightmare of our lives, the kidnapping of our father, and to date there is no progress, no information, no clue as to where our father is and how he might be. Absolutely zero results from the government’s work, from the search. We wake up every day with the hope that today is going to be the day, today we are going to know something about dad, we are going to find him, and hours go by, the night comes and again nothing, and then nothing again, but we do not lose faith,” she says.

“They did not kidnap only dad, they kidnapped the whole family, because we are always afraid, we are always careful. We can’t even use our assets because our accounts are all blocked by a law. We can’t say what we want because our father is in the hands of an armed criminal group and maybe they will do something in retaliation,” Beatriz Denis adds.

They have repeatedly asked president Mario Abdo Benítez’s government to help them. An estimated 100 men and women make up the EPP, which also kidnapped non-commissioned officer Edelio Morínigo and cattle rancher Félix Urbieta.

“I will continue insisting that the government reinforce its efforts, the search, that it asks for international help within the humanitarian framework. We have established contacts with the international Red Cross, which would be willing to cooperate within the humanitarian framework. To date the government has not given its approval. We insist that they ask for help or international cooperation in terms of technology, in terms of resources, in terms of intelligence, in order to join efforts and be able to reach the result we all want, which is for the three hostages to return to their homes,” Óscar Denis’ daughter insists.

Beatriz Denis asks those who are holding her father hostage to contact the family, which is willing to negotiate.