Notorious Graduates from Paraguay

COL Francisco Benitez, 1976, Infantry Officer Advanced
Corruption: Benitez was removed from his post for accepting bribes in
exchange for exemption from obligatory military service. (Informe de
Derechos Humanos en Paraguay)

Ruby Diaz, 1989, Instructor
Illegal Search and Seizure: Diaz was the commander of Operation
“Yhaguay” in which 300 soldiers searched the private homes of Paraguayan
peasants without warrant and illegally seized nearly 200 hunting weapons
(Informe de Derechos Humanos en Paraguay)

GEN Enrique Duarte, 1969, Communications Officers
Harrassment and illegal detention: In 1985, several cattle were stolen
from a ranch owned by Gen. Duarte. Duarte’s foreman, Bogado Nu?ez was
arrested and detained for a total of 61 days, during which time he was
tortured. Nu?ez’s family claims that the Duarte told them he knew Nu?ez
was innocent but was holding him until he could find the true thieves.
When Nu?ez was finally tried, he was found innocent. (Americas Watch
Report: Paraguay: Latin America’s Oldest Dictatorship Under Pressure)

Alejandro Fretes D?valos, 1956, Field Grade Officer
Operation Condor, 1970: Fretes D?valos was a member of military
intelligence and participated in Operation Condor, which coordinated the
efforts of Southern Cone military regimes to arrest, imprison, torture,
and “repatriate” the opponents of the different regimes. (Es Mi Informe,
1994)

Alcibiades Iba?ez Rojas, 1955, Special Command and Staff
Arrest of Political Opponents: Documents signed by Iba?ez in 1957
indicate that he was aware of the arrests of members of the political
opposition. (Es Mi Informe, 1994)

GEN Roberto Knofelmacher, 1954, Engineering
Moral author of assassination: On July 12, 1996, peasant leaders
Arsenio Vazquezy and Mariano Diaz were murdered by employees of a firm
owned by Gen. Knofelmacher. The murders were followed by the
destruction of the homes and the forcible removal of peasant families
from a piece of land claimed by Knofelmacher. The peasants have brought
suit against Knofelmacher as the moral author of the assassinations.
(Informe de Derechos Humanos en Paraguay)