Family speaks out after Paraguay ex-VP Denis goes missing

Senator Óscar Denis, 74, was vice-president of Paraguay in 2012-13

The daughters of Óscar Denis, the former Paraguayan vice-president who is believed to have been kidnapped, have begged his abductors to contact them and give him vital medicines.

Mr Denis, 74, and an employee disappeared on Wednesday from his ranch in the north of the country.

Police believe he was taken by the Paraguayan People's Army rebel group.

His kidnapping comes after two girls were shot in security forces raid on a rebel camp.

Ring and watch left behind

The politician's farm is located about six miles (10km) from Yby Yaú, the site where the 11-year-old Argentine nationals were killed, according to Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color.

Mr Denis and a 21-year-old employee had gone out to visit part of the farm, but a worker found the politician's vehicle abandoned and no sign of the two men.

Mr Denis's daughter told ABC Color that her father had gone to visit an injured employee when he was captured. She said his wedding ring and watch were found in the abandoned lorry.

In a news conference on Wednesday, Mr Denis's three daughters begged the kidnappers to provide their father with medication to treat his diabetes and hypertension, listing the drugs he takes.

They went to see the location where he was abducted late on Wednesday, they said.

"We want to see our father again. We ask them to communicate with us, that they are open with us. We will listen to them, we are waiting for their communication," María Beatriz Denis is quoted as saying.

What is the Paraguayan People's Army?

The EPP is a small Marxist rebel group which has carried out a string of kidnappings and killings in Paraguay.

One of the group's main sources of income is the smuggling of marijuana and ransoms paid for those it has kidnapped.

Over the past years, the rebels have displaced scores of Mennonite settlers from an area they seek to control.