Dentist convicted over Sol Chávez’s death detained

Dentist Lilia Graciela Espinoza de Rodríguez turned up at a police station in Asunción on Tuesday and was detained after the system flagged an arrest warrant against her.

Espinoza, 60, had been convicted of negligent homicide and sentenced to four years in prison over the death of university student María Sol Chávez Franco. Chávez died in 2021 from a fluoride overdose.

On Aug. 26, Penal Enforcement Judge Luz Rossana Bogarín revoked alternative measures that had allowed Espinoza and pharmaceutical chemist Sandra Natalia Hermosa to remain outside prison. Hermosa received a three-year sentence in the same case. The judge ordered both women arrested so they could begin serving their sentences.

Police at Asunción’s 13th Precinct said Espinoza had come in to answer questions about her personal details. During the inquiry, the computer system alerted officers to the warrant. She remained detained and was transferred later that afternoon to the women’s judicial department, where she was expected to stay until authorities arranged her transfer to a penitentiary.