Four women yesterday accused a Taipei-based Paraguayan diplomat of knowingly giving them a venereal disease -- a charge the official reportedly denies.
According to PFP lawmaker Li Yong-ping (
PHOTO: CHU YU-PING, TAIPEI TIMES
The allegations were made yesterday amidst a state visit by Paraguayan President Luis Angel Gonzalez Macchi.
"One of the victims, a graduate student, tried to end her life last night after seeking unsuccessfully to address her grievances," Li said, identifying the Paraguayan diplomat as Ruben Dario Benitez Palma.
Li said the four women claim that the diplomat's promiscuity is widely known in Taipei.
Before the suicide attempt, the woman also wrote President Chen Shui-bian (
"How pathetic it is to be a Taiwanese," her suicide note stated. "Because as one, you can never have any injustice redressed."
Earlier, the woman and another venereal-disease sufferer sought to lodge a complaint with the Paraguayan embassy, which turned down their request to call Benitez and gave them a tongue-lashing, according to Li.
"The Paraguayan embassy said the whole incident was no big deal as it involved only four women," Li quoted the venereal-disease sufferers as saying. "Also, it called the women's moral conduct into question and said the women could have passed the disease to its diplomat instead."
The lawmaker claim Benitez is fully aware of his health condition, as another one of the women -- who has a medical background -- accompanied him to a local hospital for treatment last year.
But the diplomat refused to receive treatment and started having sex with unknowing women, according to Li.
Benitez reportedly has denied to his colleagues contracting any venereal disease and backs up his contention with a health certificate. The Paraguay Embassy said Benitez will be removed from Taiwan in the coming few days.
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