The Kidnapping, Torture and Assassination of Joel Filartiga

On March 29, 1976, during Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorship in Paraguay, Joel Filartiga –the son of doctor's Joel Filartiga, a well-known opponent of the Paraguayan government– was kidnapped and tortured to death by Americo Norberto Pena Irala, the General Inspector of the Asuncion police, in reprisal for his father’s political activities. Pena Irala showed Dolly Filartiga, sister of the murder victim, her brother’s lifeless body with the marks of torture.