Guerrillas target Paraguay's electric grid

Asuncion, Aug 31, 2015 -- EFE

The self-styled Army of the Paraguayan People on Monday claimed responsibility for an attack on an electric pylon that left some 750,000 people without power.

The pylon destroyed Sunday night is located in the area of the Mennonite agricultural settlement of Manitoba, where the rebel group - known by the Spanish initials EPP - abducted a resident three weeks ago.

Homes and businesses in the northern provinces of San Pedro, Concepcion and Amambay have been affected by the power cut.

The EPP's claim of responsibility appears on a pamphlet found near the destroyed pylon, army Maj. Jonas Ramirez, spokesman for the Joint Task Force battling the guerrillas, told EFE.

The pamphlet also criticizes the use of toxic pesticides on the area's massive soy plantations and mentions EPP fighters who were killed or captured, Ramirez said.

Authorities suspect the EPP's main base must be near the Manitoba colony, which serves the rebels as their "mobility corridor," the major said.

One of the Mennonite settlers, Abraham Fehr, was grabbed three weeks ago at a spot near the electric pylon, while the EPP has been holding police Cpl. Edelio Moronigo since July 2014.

The EPP has carried out more than four-dozen kidnappings and killing since its founding in 2008, according to the Paraguayan government. EFE

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