A Paraguayan lawmaker was killed this afternoon after a shootout broke out while anti-drug police were raiding his home.
It was the second raid on the legislator’s home (both resulted in shots fired) with the aim of to arrest “people suspected of being part of a money laundering scheme from drug trafficking and criminal association”Among those wanted by police was Alexandre Gomes, the politician’s son, who escaped but later turned himself in to authorities.
Police Chief Carlos Benitez clarified that they had no plans to arrest the Eulalio Gomeswhich enjoyed parliamentary privileges, but yes to seize documents related to the investigation.
Regarding this afternoon’s crime, he said: “The participants were repelled with gunfire and returned fire.”going mortally to the parliamentary“.
Gomes, 67, was a member of parliament for the ruling conservative Colorado Party.
Investigation against Eulalio Gomes for “money laundering”
Hours before the MP’s death, prosecutors had charged him, his son and three other people with “money laundering from international trafficking of dangerous drugs.”
For the moment, Congress has not spoken out on the issue and its president, Basilio Nunezalso from the Colorado Party, said he would not comment “before having the version of those involved.”
In any case, the Chamber of Deputies declared three days of mourning to pay tribute to Gomes, whose body was transferred to the capital to be laid to rest at the parliamentary headquarters.
Other deputies individually condemned the death of their counterparts and called for the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Enrique Riera, and the Chief of Police (Benítez).
“I spoke with the president (Santiago Peña, on tour in Costa Rica) and He confirmed his 100% confidence in me, in the Chief of Police and in the fight against organized crime. “I can’t stop them from asking for my head,” he replied. Riera.
In that sense, he pointed out that the deputy “had a case opened for money laundering and drug trafficking. The Government has a very strong position of fight against organized crime“. He also stated that the politician He was taken alive to a hospital.
For his part, the victim’s lawyer, Oscar Tuma, said that Gomes was “killed in his bed” being unarmed and He called for the investigation to be “extremely transparent.”
Who was Eulalio Gomes?
Eulalio Gomes was considered one of the politicians with the greatest economic well-being in the country: he had 14 farms and 15,000 heads of cattle in almost 10,000 hectares of land and claimed to have about 130 million dollarsaccording to the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR).
Last July, Brazilian media published investigations that pointed to Gomes as an alleged accomplice to drug traffickers from that country such as Luiz Carlos Da Rocha, alias “Cabeza Branca”, sentenced to 50 years in prison in his country and he was identified as responsible for the escape of the wanted drug trafficker Ronaldo Mendes Nunes, leader of the criminal group Comando Vermelho.
“In Paraguay We are like in the time of Escobar Gaviria”the opposition senator warned the AFP agency, Yellow Sky Blue.
“The discussion must be What are drug traffickers turned parliamentarians doing here?“, he stressed and questioned: “How is it that the son escapes and takes refuge in the police station?he said, referring to Alexandre, who was eventually arrested.
The senator, a member of the Liberal Party, warned that the Paraguayan electoral system “invites criminals and drug traffickers to run and win elections.”
In 2015, another pro-government deputy, Magdaleno Silva, was also killed, but at the hands of hitmen in front of his home, in a town 50 km from where Gomes lived.
“There are increasingly more concerns about the links between drug trafficking and politics,” criminologist Juan Martens told AFP.
“There is information about people who are mayors (mayors), city councillors from inland cities and political leaders who are under suspicion,” he stressed, after pointing especially to the northeastern region of the dry border with Brazil.
Source: Ambito
