The News

Paraguay Rebels Demand Ransom After Kidnapping Mennonite Man

The Gran Chaco, part of which is inside Paraguay, where the Mennonite community have been criticized for quickening deforestation

ASUNCION, Paraguay — The Paraguayan People’s Army guerrilla group is asking for a $700,000 ransom to release a kidnapped Mennonite man.

Franz Wiebe Boschman was kidnapped Wednesday night as he was harvesting corn at a farm about 210 miles north of Paraguay’s capital.

His father, Abrahan Wiebe, said Thursday that the small, left-wing rebel group has given gave his family a 15-day deadline to pay the ransom. He says that he can’t afford to pay that sum.

Anti-kidnapping prosecutor Alberto Torres says the group burned a tractor and a truck during the kidnapping.

Officials accuse the rebels of carrying out killings, kidnappings, bank robberies and attacks on police.