Cecilia Cubas

Cecilia Cubas, the daughter of former Paraguayan President Raúl Cubas, was found dead on February 16, 2005, underneath a house near Asunción, nearly five months after she was kidnapped.

Cecilia Cubas, 32, was abducted by gunmen two blocks from her home in Asunción in September 2004, sparking a massive search by security forces who hoped to rescue her alive.

Her naked body was found in an underground chamber connected to tunnels running under the house and due to the state of decomposition had to be identified by a dental exam.

The former president, a wealthy businessman who governed for less than a year between 1998 and 1999, paid a ransom of $800.000 US Dollars for his daughter's release in November 2004 after negotiating with her captors through e-mail. The kidnappers later told him, however, that this was only a part of the $5 Million Dollars they had requested to secure Cecilia's freedom, and cut off all communication.

Residents of Asunción had plastered "Free Cecilia" signs on buildings, houses and cars.

Cubas and his wife, along with current President Nicanor Duarte, accompanied police to the site where the body was found.

Among the information that was later released regarding the kidnapping of Miss Cubas, was the fact that the kidnappers had received training and support from the Colombian terrorist group FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia); the support of this group came via the "foreign minister" of the FARC, Rodrigo Granda. Osmar Martinez from the PPL (Partido Patria Libre), who was arrested as the main suspect for this crime, was the link with Granda.

The investigation into this kidnapping was conducted with the help of the Colombian attorney general's office.