Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo (EPP)

Introduction and Overview

The Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo (EPP), Paraguayan People’s Army, is a relatively small Marxist-Leninist group that has been active since 2008 and has claimed responsibility for multiple kidnappings, bombings, armed robberies, and has also been accused of arson.  The Paraguayan government recognises the EPP as an armed criminal organisation that calls for students, farmers, the homeless, and other less fortunate individuals to join their revolution to overthrow the government and fight the wealthy landowners of Paraguay, whom they accuse of abusing the system and the people (1). Despite the official recognition as a criminal organisation, officials within the Paraguayan government have referred to the EPP as a “terrorist organisation” in the past. 

History and Foundations

Although the EPP was not formally recognised until 2008, its roots date back to the 1990s. Some of its founding members were members of the Partido Patria Libre (PPL), or the Free Fatherland Party. Members of the PPL decided that a “clandestine militant wing” was necessary for the official political party (2). However, due to splintering and changes in goals, those members left the PPL to create the EPP to fight against the parliamentary system and the wealthy landowners on their own terms. It was not until the early 2000s that the EPP began to take significant action. In 2005, the EPP kidnapped and later murdered Cecilia Cubas, the daughter of the former president of Paraguay. This would be just one of many kidnappings the EPP performed, although later kidnappings would be done to acquire funds through extortion (3).  

The 2010s saw a surge in EPP activities, including kidnappings, murders, bombings, and assaults on government positions in rural areas. In 2012, the EPP targeted a government-owned electricity transmission station with a bomb that did not cause any casualties; the Paraguayan government claims the blast did not interrupt operations. Another example of EPP actions includes the April 21st bombing and subsequent assault on a police station in 2013. In Azotey, Concepción, the EPP planted and detonated a bomb near a police patrol, resulting in one fatality and three wounded. After the bombing, the EPP staged an assault on the local police department. This attack resulted in the death of one militant and injured two police officers. These are just two examples of numerous attacks on the government throughout the 2010s.

Objectives and Ideology 

The EPP seeks to create or cause “agrarian reform from below.” In an official public notice, the EPP states, 

“The peasantry must proceed with a massive occupation of large landed estates and that the occupants must be armed with whatever they can: shotguns, revolvers, rifles, machetes, slingshots, stones, etc” (1). 

In the same public notice, the EPP calls upon students, workers, the homeless, and other large public sectors to join the armed struggle with the peasantry against wealthy landowners whom the EPP deems “arrogant.” Due to these specific calls to arms against wealthy landowners and their advocacy for land reform, the EPP is often regarded as a Marxist-Leninist group.

In a book authored by the leader of the EPP, Alcides Oviedo Britez, he refers to the members of the EPP as “Francoists.” He describes that the EPP is fighting to destroy the “democracy of the rich” and instead “build a serious and combative revolutionary people’s democracy” (4). One of the first objectives stated in this book is to dismantle the current parliamentary system and replace it with a new, revolutionary system of “popular congresses” at every level of government, i.e., local, state, and federal. The book later describes other revolutionary objectives in crucial areas such as foreign relations, the judicial system, the economy, and the issue of agriculture. 

Regarding foreign relations, the EPP states that the new system it wishes to implement will not grant asylum for those wishing to escape prosecution for political crimes. The EPP specifically names Mario Cossio, a former governor of Bolivia who sought asylum in Paraguay following accusations of corruption and dereliction of duty, as someone who would be turned over to the authorities of the country they are fleeing from. Following this description, the authors state,

“Francoism is a friend of men and women who fight for a new, revolutionary, socialist world” (4).

The EPP seeks to create a provisional judiciary system to punish those who benefited from the current system, whom they label as “henchmen, torturers, informers, and counterrevolutionary war criminals” (4). The book describes how the judges will be subject to popular will and that their positions can be removed as soon as the public deems necessary, as well as the fact that their salaries will not be higher than the legal minimum, stating “being an authority is a service, not a means of earning money” (4).

The economic goals of the EPP and its revolution are not too dissimilar from those of many Marxist/Leninist groups. The EPP seeks to prosecute those who have embezzled and or misappropriated public funds or have received illicit enrichment, with a special revolutionary tribunal that will have full investigative authority. The book states that those found guilty will be imprisoned for life and their assets seized. With the seized assets, the revolutionary government will reallocate the funds to various government projects such as childcare, healthcare, education, housing, and infrastructure, like passenger and freight transport. Furthermore, with the seized assets, the EPP states that privatising industrialisation programs will not be necessary (4).

The EPP states that the agrarian issue is one of Paraguay's most significant issues. The EPP states that the current government cannot be fixed due to its “unrestricted respect for private landed property.”  The EPP’s solution is to restrict the amount of land a “legal” person can own and redistribute the land to peasants and farmers who do not own or have minimal land to work. The mortgage payments that small landowners may still owe will be forgiven for up to 10 hectares. Lastly, the revolutionary government guarantees technical support for farmers in the form of providing seeds, tools, and fair pricing for products (4).

Political and Military Abilities

Due to its goals and lack of manpower, the EPP is not known to instigate large military-style operations. Instead, it relies on hit-and-run tactics, which are often used by smaller insurgency groups and those not as militarily powerful as the government. The Paraguayan government does not believe the EPP is a centralised group; instead, the group is decentralised and is estimated to have about 20-50 members according to the State Department of the United States (5). Other estimates claim the group numbers roughly a dozen members. There are no reports of the EPP having any political representation in the Paraguayan government or having political allies within the government.

Approaches to Resistance

Since its founding, the EPP has been a militarised group focused on targeting government assets such as military and police outposts. The EPP has conducted armed robberies and kidnappings to hold victims for ransom as a means of financing its revolution. The EPP possesses small arms such as FN FALs and AK-47 rifles, and is capable of manufacturing improvised explosive devices (6). The EPP is also known for using guerrilla tactics against police and military forces, most notably the use of anti-personnel mines and improvised explosive devices they call “cazabobos” (7). The EPP is notorious for kidnapping ranchers, and more recently, Mennonites, to hold victims for ransom money. There are a few instances of the EPP holding hostages and demanding that food and or livestock be delivered to poorer areas of Paraguay in exchange for the hostages’ freedom. 

The government of Paraguay created the Joint Task Force (FTC) to combat the EPP and other armed factions in 2013. This unit has been somewhat successful in killing or capturing leaders of the EPP, but has not entirely wiped out the group. Due to their leadership being captured or killed during government incursions, the EPP’s numbers dwindled to the aforementioned estimates of 20-50 members (8).  Despite multiple operations and thousands of troops being deployed to find members of the EPP, the EPP remains alive but less active and severely diminished. 

Relations and Alliances

Although there has not been official confirmation, there are claims by Paraguayan officials and news outlets, such as Asunción, that the Colombian insurgent group FARC has provided training for members of the EPP. Similarly, the EPP has been accused of forming relations with Brazilian drug trafficking organizations such as the First Capital Command (PCC) and the Red Command (3). As reported by ABC Color, a spokesperson for the Paraguayan Joint Task Force (FTC) stated, “the traffickers provide the EPP with sufficient logistics, and in return, ‘the drug traffickers use the EPP’s ‘armed wing’” (9). Despite these claims, there is little evidence to support them. InSight Crime argues that the Paraguayan government makes these claims on little more than circumstantial evidence and has done so after instances of drug-related violence against police (10). 

Works Cited

(1) - Paraguayan People's Army. “Public Notice.” Cedema.org, 2 Nov. 2008, cedema.org/digital_items/2941.

(2) - Andrés Colmán Gutiérrez. (2013, August 21). Guerrilleros o terroristas: La historia de cómo nació el EPP. Última Hora. https://www.ultimahora.com/guerrilleros-o-terroristas-la-historia-como-nacio-el-epp-n715259

(3) - “The Paraguayan People’s Army: Latin America’s Enduring Insurgency.” Grey Dynamics, 15 Apr. 2021, greydynamics.com/the-paraguayan-peoples-army-latin-americas-enduring-insurgency/.

(4) - “Summary of the EPP Political Program.” Cedema.org, 14 Aug. 2011, cedema.org/digital_items/4582.

Alcides Oviedo Britez wrote the original piece.

(5) - Paraguay. (n.d.). United States Department of State. https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2019/paraguay/

(6) - ABC Color. (2013, August 26). Sospechan que narcos proveen armas al EPP. Abc.com.py; ABC Color. https://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/politica/sospechan-que-narcos-proveen-armas-al-epp-610765.html

(7) - ABC Color. (2014, July 9). The EPP is increasingly dangerous. Abc.com.py; ABC Color. https://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/editorial/el-epp-esta-cada-vez-mas-peligroso-1264232.html Translated from Spanish to English.

(8) - Ellis, R. E. (2024, July 2). Paraguay’s Security Challenges and the Government Response. Fiu.edu; Florida International University. https://gordoninstitute.fiu.edu/news-events/the-policy-spotlight/2024/paraguays-security-challenges-and-the-government-response.html

(9) - ABC Color. (2015, July 20). EPP, “brazo armado” de narcos. Abc.com.py; ABC Color. https://www.abc.com.py/nacionales/epp-brazo-armado-de-narcos-1389637.html

(10) - Gagne, D. (2017, March 27). Paraguay Guerrillas Act as Narco-Gunmen: Officials. InSight Crime. https://insightcrime.org/news/brief/paraguay-epp-guerrillas-armed-wing-drug-traffickers/