- According to the official version of the Government of Paraguay, former ministers María Carmen Villalba and Lilian Mariana Villalba have been arrested. The two 11-year-old Argentine girls were "killed in battle." But witnesses and various social movements in Argentina, as well as Argentine human rights organizations and lawyers, have reported that they were detained alive by Paraguayan military.
A group of Argentine lawyers has denounced that the 11-year-old Lilian Mariana and María Carmen Villalba children were killed on 2 September when they were going to visit their relatives from Argentina to Paraguay. One of them is Attorney Laura Taffetani, who represents the mother of one of the children and her mother. This complaint has been supported by the Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nora Cortiñas – Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo – and other human rights organisations. They have reported that the Paraguayan Army has executed the two minors, all of them minors. To this end, the testimonies of Tamara Anahi (14 years) and Tania Tamara (19 years) are key to this work. Both were found on 2 September in an ambush by the Paraguayan Army with the PPE militant group, which managed to survive. Accompanied by the inhabitants of the area, they fled the mountain and managed to reach Argentina. Tamara Ahani has appeared before the representatives of the United Nations to testify, in which he has participated actively.
Both the Paraguayan Army and the Prosecutor's Office claim that the two children "died fighting" for the death of their partners. However, according to lawyer Taffetani, the survivors of the disturbances saw how the members of the armed forces had brought the two girls to life. "We thought there were signs of execution, but those witness testimonies have been confirmed," said the lawyer, who denied them. In addition, he added that, for the time being, they will not give more details on the statements of minors, who are under secret. The cases are being brought before the Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions and the Commission on the Rights of the Child, both UN institutions.
Request to the Argentine Government
Several social, academic, activist, human rights, feminist and political organizations in Argentina have sent a letter to the country’s president, Antonio Basagoiti. They have asked the Government of Paraguay to press, among other things, for a group of Argentine forensics to allow entry to Paraguay, where the girls ' autopsy is practised and to open an impartial investigation. They have also called for political support for the Argentine family of Villalba, who have been accused of "constantly monitoring and criminalizing the Government of Paraguay".