On July 27, 2026, the Paraguayan state held a public ceremony acknowledging its international responsibility for the murder of journalist Santiago Leguizamón Zaván, killed on April 26, 1991, in Pedro Juan Caballero. The event in the Serafina Dávalos Hall of the Palace of Justice in Asunción partially complied with the judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Santiago Leguizamón Zaván and Others v. Paraguay.
Supreme Court President Alberto Martínez Simón represented the state and admitted that public institutions had provided inadequate responses, describing the crime as an attack on press freedom. He acknowledged failures to meet international obligations to protect fundamental rights and investigate the case diligently, as well as the severe consequences that prolonged impunity caused for the family of the victim.
Dante Leguizamón, the son of the journalist, welcomed the apology but emphasized that most of the judgment remains unimplemented. He criticized opposition from the governing majority to a law protecting journalists and human rights defenders, saying the current state attacks journalists, rights advocates, farmers and Indigenous people instead of advancing that agenda.
The Paraguayan Journalists Union (SPP) said the murder remains unpunished and that another 21 journalists have been killed in the country since Leguizamón. SPP Secretary-General Santiago Ortiz said inaction, negligence and complicity within sectors of power had entrenched impunity and sent the dangerous message that killing a journalist could go unpunished.
According to reporting by ABC Color that could not be independently corroborated, the family deliberately excluded President Santiago Peña and members of Congress from the ceremony, alleging that the current government team is closely linked to those who ordered the killing. Dante Leguizamón reportedly said the family knows who ordered the murder and who was close to them.
Officials including Attorney General Emiliano Rolón and lawmakers from several parties attended, while the absence of senior executive-branch representatives drew attention. The family also criticized the refusal to hold a similar ceremony in Pedro Juan Caballero, the region with the highest number of journalists killed in Paraguay.