Paraguay: four investigative journalists attacked in three months as protection law stalls

On 13 October 2025, a man on a motorcycle threw a homemade Molotov cocktailinto the yard of journalist Aníbal Benítez's home in Lambaré, a city near the capital, Asunción. The explosive caused a small fire; next to it, authorities found an unfired bullet and a note reading, "Be careful." Aníbal Benítez is the director of PDS Radioand TV Digital, which frequently cover judicial rulings and landmark corruption convictions. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the attack, and Aníbal Benítez told RSF that "The authorities offered their support, and we now have 24-hour security. A National Police officer is permanently stationed at our home."

Aníbal Benítez' case is the latest in an ongoing escalation of attacks against the press. While investigations have been opened into all four recent cases and the journalists have been given some state protection, Paraguay's news workers remain at increasing risk until a legal mechanism for protecting journalists is established, which, among other things, will allow the state to take preventive action.

Four attacks in three months

On 18 September - less than a month before the attack on Aníbal Benítez - the home of journalist Carlos Benítez, director of the newspaper El Observadorand presenter on Radio Ñandutí, was shot atfollowing his investigations into the criminal group known as the mafia de los pagarés(the promissory note mafia). "To feel more at ease, it 's necessary to identify those responsible, or at least to have some suspicion. Without that, one feels completely unsafe, even with personal protection," Carlos Benítez told RSF.

On 29 August, journalist Aníbal Gómezfrom Radio América 94.9 FMreceived death threats on WhatsApp warning him not to report on crime and politics. The following day, 30 August, journalist Mabel Portillofrom the Facebook news page GuairáPressreceived death threats via text messages and voice notes warning her to "stop talking about what doesn't concern you," after publishing reports on administrative irregularities in the city of Yataity del Guairá. She later faced attempts at judicial censorship, including a lawsuit for defamation and a restraining order brought by one of the public figures who appears in the journalist's investigations, restricting the free exercise of her work.

A glaring lack of protection for journalists

Since April 2023, the Paraguayan Senate has been debating a bill to establish a protection mechanism for journalists and human rights defenders. As of 15 October 2025, the project has re-emerged in the Senate's agenda, but despite renewed discussions, it has again been postponedagain for 15 days. Senator Natalicio Chase, of the Colorado Party, requestedthe postponement "in order to make further adjustments to this bill." A significant number of senators oppose a protection law that covers both journalists and human rights defenders. RSF and the civil society organisations involved in drafting the proposal continue to press actively, seeking political support and working to prevent the initiative's key provisions from being weakened, despite resistance from a conservative-majority Parliament that has hindered progress over the past few years.