They accuse him of “disturbing public order.” He recorded the moment in a video in which he says that “all criminals in the country have to be handcuffed.”
The National Police of Paraguay arrested this Friday the former independent presidential candidate Paraguayan “Payo” Cubaswhose complaint about an alleged “fraud” in the general elections on Sunday sparked demonstrations by citizens dissatisfied with the electoral results.
On their Twitter account, the Police reported that the “preventive detention” of Cubas took place in the city of San Lorenzo – located about 14 kilometers from Asunción, the country’s capital -, in compliance with an official letter from the Public Ministry.
The NPY channel released a document in which prosecutors from the Public Ministry’s Specialized Unit for Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption asked the Police to arrest Cubas, from the National Crusade Party (PCN), and who came third in the presidential elections, in a presumed cause “disturbance of public peace and others”.
“All criminals in this country have to be handcuffed like Paraguayo Cubas”says the politician in his live broadcast while being admitted to a patrol car.
Then he stated: “There will be no quilombo. Vote stealers are quietly free and those of us who defend the Constitution go to jail. (…) The police protocol seems fine to me and I already know what awaits me”.
“The protocol is the wife, if you are not handcuffed you will appeal to the poor policemen. I am accused of subverting public order, it is in the law,” he added.
Cubas, who denounced fraud after coming third in Sunday’s electionsdid not resist the arrest and recorded a video of the moment in which he continues to denounce irregularities in his country’s politics.
Between Tuesday and this Friday, the security forces arrested more than a hundred supporters of the politician, leader of the National Crusade movement, also on charges of “disturbing public peace.”
Cubas, a 61-year-old lawyer, had urged his supporters through social media to ignore the outcome of the election won by economist Santiago Peña of the ruling Colorado Party.
Peña obtained 42.7% of the vote, compared to 27.4% for his main rival, Efraín Alegre, of the center-left coalition Concertación Nacional. Cubas reached 22.9% of the votes.
DB
