AND: Carmen Villalba, Laura Villalba and Francisca Andino Begin A Hunger Strike, Denouncing the Crimes of the Old Paraguayan State
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article published by A Nova Democracia de Brasil on the 7th of August:
The Paraguayan political prisoners Carmen Villalba, Laura Villalba and Francisca Andino began a hunger strike on August 4th to denounce the grave violations of their rights. Held in the dungeons of the Penitentiary Complex for Women Deprived of Freedom (COMPLE for its name in Spanish) in Emboscada in the Cordillera department are demanding the urgent change of the maximum security regime for a common regime, as well as the end of the isolation and harassment that they have been put under since October of 2024
In their note the International Campaign in Solidarity with the Family Villalba informed that the prisoners face a rigorous extraordinary regime of maximum security with individual and solitary cells for 24 hours a day, which they have been put under since October 12th of 2024. The statement underlines that the prolonged isolation maintained by the penitentiary authorities constitutes cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, severely aggravated by the rapidly deteriorating of the health of the political prisoners as a result of the hunger strike, making the international and national solidarity imperative to break the criminal silence imposed by the old Paraguayan State against the prisoners held in the maximum security dungeons.
As a fundamental and inevitable part of the ongoing mobilizations, the Campaign affirms that it is promoting a 9th humanitarian delegation to Paraguay and is gathering essential financial means to cover the costs of travel, stay and ample activities of denouncing and political accompaniment, vehemently underlining that every small solidarity contribution strengthens the just struggle against institutional oppression in a decisive way.
Juridical Persecution and crimes against children
The note lines out the systematic history of State persecution that the communist Carmen Villalba, historic leader of the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) has faced since her prison sentence in 2004. “In 2021 she completed her 18 year sentence. Still the judicial, political and penitentiary systems have been creating penal processes (cases) against her to impede her freedom”, the note states. Meanwhile Francisca Andino, who is 65 years old and has multiple health problems, “has been serving her sentence for 22 years, completing it this year, but continues to be isolated behind the walls of injustice. Carmen and Francisca have earned psychology degrees in prison and want to continue their studies but they are being denied this chance”. Laura, who is a nurse is also looking to continue her studies.
The Campaign’s note also addresses the dramatic situation of Laura Villalba, who is serving an unjust sentence of more than 30 years. Laura was arrested in 2020, months after the crime against the children – María Carmen, her daughter, and Lilian Mariana, her niece and Carmen’s daughter – and days after the disappearance of Lichita, Carmen’s daughter, while she was desperately searching for her. The statement affirms that Laura “is the only person imprisoned for the crime against the children (judged as a ‘bad mother’ and convicted as a member of the EPP group—a group she never belonged to). The testimonies against her were given by members of the Joint Task Forces who participated in this crime,” the statement says.
The two Argentinian girls, Lilian Mariana Villalba and Maria Carmen Villalba , both eleven years old, were murdered on September 2nd, 2020, at a camp set up in Yby Yaú, in the Concepción province, when heavily armed soldiers and police from the Joint Task Force arrived firing. The girls were shot, causing them to fall face-down on the ground, a sign of execution, as they tried to flee, according to Paraguayan forensic expert Cristian Ferreira in an investigation conducted against the government’s wishes.
In addition to the cruel murder of the two girls, the complaint recalls the forced disappearance of Lichita, another daughter of Carmen Villalba, whose whereabouts remain unknown since the time of the repressive operations, highlighting the criminal fury and relentless persecution waged by the old State against the entire Villalba family.
A History of Complaints, Solidarity, and Arbitrary Arrests
In previous actions, the International Campaign made a broad international call in June, for a Week of Solidarity with Paraguayan political prisoners, actively calling workers, unions, collectives, and popular organizations to send videos, photographs, and letters of denunciation to Paraguayan consulates and embassies, to vigorously pressure the Minister of Justice Rodrigo Nicora to end prolonged isolation, the prohibition to communicate, and systematic torture.
In April, the International Campaign delivered a letter to the United Nations (UN) denouncing the situation of the female prisoners, detailing that, in October 2024, the prisoners were transferred to the Minga Guazú maximum security prison in an operation carried out in dawn, hooded and handcuffed, without any prior notification. The formal complaint detailed that, since August 2025, Carmen had been held in block 8 of the Emboscada prison, a sector surrounded by strictly male blocks, where daily guard duty was exercised mostly by men, generating extreme isolation and a severe food shortage that severely undermined her health.
According to a public statement made by her defense attorney, Salvador Sánchez, at the beginning of March, Carmen Villalba suffered from acute and excruciating spinal pain, to the point that she had to crawl inside her cell due to her complete inability to stand. This undeniably demonstrates the extreme degree of physical cruelty she was subjected to in the dungeons of Paraguayan State.
