FM AMEMBASSY ASUNCION
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 8909
[Date:] DEC 87
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY WELCOMES CROATIAN TERRORIST
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE ASUNCION 05130
REF: STOCKHOLM 9310
1. All Asuncion dailies reported the arrival from Sweden aboard a Swedish Air Force plane of paroled Croatian terrorist/murderer Miro Baresic at Stroessner International Airport, Thursday morning, December 10. The arrival was marked by strict security precautions which prevented the press from interviewing or even approaching Baresic. An unnamed Swedish diplomat with residence in Montevideo reportedly observed the arrival and will remain in Asuncion until Baresic's travel plans are finalized.
2. A highly placed government official indicated that Paraguay had accepted Baresic and his family "for absolutely humanitarian reasons". "Our nation is open and hospitable and he can stay here so long as he observes the Constitution and the laws." Baresic and his family are reportedly planning to visit in the Itapua Department, south of Asuncion along Paraguay's southern frontier with Argentina, before returning to reside permanently in Asuncion.
3. All papers carried limited background stories on Baresic and on the history of the Croation [sic] controversy. "El Diario" interviewed former Paraguayan Ambassador to the U.S., Mario Lopez Escobar, who noted that Baresic, a martial arts expert, was employed at the Paraguayan Embassy in Washington as a security officer, because "he knew my anticommunist leanings and he was a fervent anticommunist. He received a salary that was complemented by (donations from) the Croatian community in Chicago." Baresic was previously made a captain in the Paraguayan army. Ambassador Lopez also stated, "I can assure you that he didn't kill any ambassador."
4. The press has reported that Baresic escaped Sweden, where he was sentenced for the assassination of the Yugoslav Ambassador, to Spain, following the hijacking by fellow Croatian terrorists of a Swedish airline. The local press has not addressed the question of why Paraguay received Baresic and his companions in 1972. Whether the story relates to then or now, it is said that Stroessner approved their entry when told the fugitives were Catholics and anti-communist. Taylor.
