Bill proposes pension for mother of slain liberal leader

A proposal has been put forth to grant a pension to Felicita Arrúa, the mother of Rodrigo Quintana, a young liberal leader who was fatally shot by police during the administration of former President Horacio Cartes. The bill was introduced by liberal deputy Jorge Ávalos Mariño (PLRA).

Arrúa recently experienced another profound loss with the death of her husband, Fidelino Quintana. He had been actively campaigning for justice alongside his wife, seeking accountability for all those responsible for the police operation that led to their son's death. Their pursuit of justice remained unfulfilled.

Deputy Ávalos Mariño emphasized that the pension would serve as an act of social justice, ensuring dignified living conditions for an elderly woman in a vulnerable situation. He also described it as an institutional recognition of Arrúa's sacrifice and her son's status as a "martyr of contemporary democracy."

Paradoxically, in August 2017, just four months after Rodrigo Quintana's death, then-President Cartes himself signed a law granting a pension of G. 2,500,000 to Fidelino Quintana. However, with his passing, this pension was revoked, leaving Felicita Arrúa without financial support. The new bill seeks to reinstate this amount for her.

The incident occurred on the night of March 31 to April 1, 2017, when National Police raided the headquarters of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) with gunfire and without a warrant. During the raid, Rodrigo Quintana was shot in the back while seeking shelter with other protesters demonstrating against an unconstitutional attempt to amend the constitution for Cartes's re-election. Sub-officer Gustavo Adolfo Florentín Silva was identified as the shooter and received a 24-year prison sentence for intentional homicide, confirmed last November. However, the justice system has not identified who ordered the illegal raid or investigated communications between the operation's leaders and individuals close to the Cartes government.

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The granting of this pension is not only an act of strict social justice to ensure dignified living conditions for an elderly woman in a risk situation, but also an unavoidable institutional recognition of the mother of whom, for his sacrifice in defense of institutionalism, is legitimately considered a martyr of the contemporary democracy of our Republic.