BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) – Paraguayan police on Friday arrested Paraguayo Cubas, a far-right populist who finished third in Sunday’s presidential election and encouraged his supporters to protest his unsubstantiated claims that voting was marred by fraud had been.
Cubas is in preventive detention by order of the Attorney General’s Office, who has accused him of breaching the peace, Police Commissioner Gilberto Fleitas said in a radio interview.
Cubas, the National Crusade Party candidate who received 23% of the vote on Sunday, was broadcasting live on Facebook when officers arrested him outside his hotel in San Lorenzo, about 15 kilometers from Asuncion.
Fleitas said Cubas got into a police vehicle “without difficulty” but continued to live stream.
In his broadcast from the police vehicle, Cubas chatted with officers and aimed the camera at his handcuffs. “You can see now that I’m locked up,” he said. “All criminals in this country should be handcuffed like Paraguayo Cubas.”
Cubas had been telling his supporters since Monday that he was traveling to the capital to lead a series of protests that had led to isolated clashes with police, mostly outside the electoral court in Asuncion.
“We will remain on the streets until Paraguayo Cubas is released,” said Juan Reyes, one of hundreds of Cubas supporters who took part in demonstrations in front of the electoral court.
At least 208 people were arrested “for disturbing the public peace and other criminal acts in the context of the demonstrations taking place on national territory”, the police said on Thursday.
Efraín Alegre, who came second in Sunday’s elections as the candidate of a broad opposition coalition, called for the release of Cuba and everyone arrested during protests this week.
“We demand the release of Paraguayo Cubas and all citizens imprisoned for their demands for transparency,” Alegre wrote on social media.
Alegre, who received 27% of the vote on Sunday, gave up the race shortly after polling stations closed but then on Monday called for a manual count of the votes and an international audit of the country’s electronic voting system after Cubas raised his allegations of fraud.
The Organization of American States, which sent an election observation mission, said Tuesday there was “no reason to doubt the results” of the vote count.
Santiago Peña of the long-ruling Colorado Party easily won Sunday’s presidential election with 43 percent of the vote.
In recent days, Cubas has posted pictures of supporters welcoming him in different parts of the country as he heads towards the capital from Ciudad del Este, a city on the border of Brazil and Argentina.
Some 1,500 to 1,800 police officers were deployed outside the electoral court on Friday for the protest staged by Cuban supporters. The authorities also prepared for any demonstration in front of the police station where Cubas was taken.
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Associated Press photojournalist Jorge Sáenz in Asunción contributed to this report.