HomeNewsThe Drug Lord and the Governor's Daughter - Quadruple Homicide in Paraguay
NEWS

The Drug Lord and the Governor's Daughter - Quadruple Homicide in Paraguay

ELITES AND CRIME / 20 OCT 2021 BY MARK WILSON EN

The killing of four young people in Paraguay’s border city of Pedro Juan Caballero has led back to an imprisoned man who was once its most-wanted drug trafficker, revealing systemic failures in the justice system.

On October 16 at 6 a.m., according to local media reports, the group was leaving a party together when a white van pulled up, blocking the road. CCTV footage shows men getting out of the van and opening fire. All four were killed, including Haylee Acevedo, the daughter of the governor of Amambay department, where the city is located.

Two men are under investigation for ordering the attack. The first is the former bodyguard of Jorge Rafaat, Última Hora reported, the biggest drug dealer in Pedro Juan Caballero until his 2016 murder. The second is Faustino Aguayo, once one of the most-wanted men in Paraguay who is currently behind bars for drug trafficking.

SEE ALSO: Overcrowded, Too Few Guards and Easy Access to Drugs in Paraguay's Most Crowded Prison

Police raided Aguayo’s cell after the attack, finding luxurious accommodations that included a private bathroom and a smart TV. More surprisingly, Mirna Romero, the daughter of Pedro Juan Caballero's secretary of healthcare and sanitation, was also found in the cell, seemingly as Aguayo’s lover.

Speaking to journalists, police commissioner Jorge Vidallet told the media that the main target of the attack was most likely Osmar Álvarez, alias “Bebeto,” a local criminal suspected of ties to drug trafficking. The other three only died because they were with him that night, according to the police.

But an alternative explanation has suggested itself: jealousy. Bebeto had previously been Romero's boyfriend and her husband, a former federal agent, was violently killed just three months after their wedding.

According to Brazilian media reports, Bebeto had been working as an informant for Paraguay's National Anti-Drug Secretariat and is believed to have provided evidence that resulted in the arrest of 14 members of the First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC). The police have so far not connected this to the murder case.

InSight Crime Analysis

This tragic massacre of four young people has revealed a broader truth: arresting key players in Paraguay’s drug trade does not curtail their criminal activities.

Aguayo, one of the most important drug traffickers in the country and alleged member of the Brazilian Red Command (Comando Vermelho - CV) gang, seems to have continued a jealous vendetta from within a luxury jail cell.

That Aguayo was even able to order the attack speaks to his influence. According to anti-narcotics prosecutors cited by local media, one judge moved Aguayo to the prison in Pedro Juan Caballero in March 2021 on the basis of a medical request from the prisoner, allegedly without notifying prosecutors.

SEE ALSO: Cooking Cocaine in Full View of Guards at Paraguay's Largest Prison

Previous kingpins in Pedro Juan Caballero have similarly continued to run their operations from inside prison. In 2019, Sérgio de Arruda Quintiliano Neto, alias “Minotauro,” a PCC boss in the city, was able to orchestrate activities such as vehicle theft around Pedro Juan Caballero despite being in prison in Brazil.

In 2019, after another PCC commander, Giovanni Barbosa da Silva, alias “Bonitão,” was arrested, 40 PCC members attacked the police station where he was being held to try and rescue him. Several police officers were taken hostage, but the attack was ultimately unsuccessful.

And in 2020, 76 members of the PCC escaped from the prison Aguayo is currently being held in via a tunnel that was almost certainly built with the complicity of state security forces.

This recurring problem reflects a broader security failure within Paraguay’s prison system, which has been marked by official corruption, gang warfare and shocking acts of violence.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CONTRABAND / 12 APR 2023

Zulia's gasoline black market has disappeared as government policies and supply increases take effect. But will it soon return?…

ELITES AND CRIME / 19 JUL 2023

Former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli was sentenced to 10 years in prison for money laundering, putting him closer than ever…

FEATURED / 13 JUL 2023

Listen to this article This audio was generated using text-to-speech software Insecurity is rising in Paraguay, and the government is…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…