Foreign Policy: “Paraguay is an experimental field for the United States”

By Augusto Taglioni

The analyst, Emanuele Ottolenghi, from the FP affirms that the State Department wants Horacio Cartes and Hugo Velazquez to be tried in the United States.

The position of the State Department in relation to Paraguay and its complaints against former President Horacio Cartes and Vice President Hugo Velazquez are at the center of political analysis in the United States. In this sense, the journalist Emanuele Ottolenghi, an old American analyst on Latin American politics, especially linked to the Triple Frontier and Hezbollah, wrote an explosive article with Foreign Policy where he defends the position of the White House.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Paraguay

Ottolenghi was in the Capitol in 2017 talking about the Hezbollah bases in the Triple Frontier and maintains that “Paraguay is an experimentation field for the United States” and affirms that Biden is playing his cards with the new discourse against the corruption of the elites.

The article begins: “The administration should leave no room for doubt: corruption in Paraguay is deep and wide, and Cartes and Velázquez should not be the only people on Washington’s list. In the past, Paraguay’s leaders had impunity while politically aligned with the U.S. Biden’s predecessors, whether Democrats or Republicans, were well aware of Paraguay’s corruption pandemic, but treated their leaders with care amid mounting evidence of corruption at the highest levels in the country’s power structure.

INTERVENTION IN PARAGUAY, A MESSAGE TO THE REGION

“The U.S. investigations into Cartes’ alleged role in smuggling predate his election as president in 2013, but were likely dropped as part of a diplomatic deal, according to conversations FP had with a former Paraguayan official close to Cartes and a former U.S. official familiar with the U.S. investigation,” he continues.

Then, he argues that in Paraguay, “political meddling to protect the guilty has stalled the investigation of the so-called megalavado case, the largest money laundering case in the country’s history, allegedly valued at US$1.2 billion. For six years, the investigation has been hampered by periodic changes of prosecutors, sometimes ordered by Paraguay’s attorney general’s office. “Each time, the investigation backs off and there is no end in sight. Other major investigations into money laundering schemes have also not produced indictments or convictions.”

“The administration should leave no room for doubt: corruption in Paraguay runs deep and wide, and Cartes and Velázquez should not be the only people on Washington’s list. In the past, Paraguay’s leaders had impunity as long as they were politically aligned with the United States” says Ottolenghi.

That was the case of Liz Paola Doldán González, whom the United States Department of the Treasury finally sanctioned in 2021 for corruption. Doldán was implicated in a US$500 million tax evasion and money laundering scheme. “The Paraguayan authorities slapped her on the wrist with a fiscal fine despite the staggering losses incurred by the Paraguayan treasury. Of the other two businesspersons also sanctioned in the case, the Kassem and Khalil Hijazi cousins, only the first has been extradited to the United States, while the second has no pending legal action,” the analyst questions.

For years, he charges, “Washington concealed any acknowledgment of Paraguay’s corruption in the State Department’s annual reports, dutifully pointing out poor anti-money laundering controls and Paraguay’s weak judicial system.”

For Ottolenghi, “observing corruption was not enough as long as Paraguayan politicians believed that their loyalty to Washington exempted them from the duty to govern honestly and transparently. American policy still seemed to reflect the old Cold War-era practice of siding with nasty regimes as long as they supported U.S. foreign policy goals.”

“In September 2019, just three years before facing sanctions, Velázquez received the red carpet treatment in Washington, where he met with members of Congress and visited the U.S. Departments of Justice, State and Treasury, as well as the CIA. Washington supported Cartes when he ran for president in 2013 despite previously investigating his alleged criminal activities, including infiltrating his business with a view to prosecuting him,” he continued.

Emanuele Ottolenghi argues that the anti-corruption experience in Paraguay should be an example to address the problem throughout Latin America and proposes moving forward with businesspersons. “After Biden took office, there were signs that patience in the White House was wearing thin. In April 2021, the Biden administration placed sanctions on a Paraguayan politician and his wife, and in August 2021 it issued sanctions on three businesspersons, Doldán and the Hijazis, for their corrupt practices. Kassem was even arrested and recently extradited to the United States. But despite this progress, corruption remains rampant and the government’s efforts to combat it remain disappointing.” Observing corruption was not enough as long as Paraguayan politicians believed that their loyalty to Washington exempted them from the duty to govern honestly and transparently.

“Investigations have suffered setbacks; judicial processes have languished; transnational criminal activities in Paraguay have skyrocketed; and, most dramatically, was the recent murder of a top prosecutor who was leading cases against criminal networks, corrupt politicians, and terrorist financiers,” he emphasizes.

“Even as the Biden administration has now focused on Paraguay to showcase its fight against global corruption, the country’s ruling elites are still likely to hope that the worst thing that can happen to them is losing their visas to the United States. The White House needs to prove them wrong,” he proposes.

The analyst also highlights that “Financial flows of Paraguayan corruption frequently pass through U.S. banks. The Biden administration, which clearly aims to tackle corruption far beyond the confines of Paraguay or even Latin America, must not lose sight of the shocking impact of his summer measures.”

Finally, Emanuele Ottolenghi said that “a relentless and continued focus on Paraguay is essential. Too often in the past, U.S. sanctions, once enacted, gradually lost force as sanctioned foreign nationals were able to adapt and resume their activities as soon as America’s Eye of Sauron turned its gaze elsewhere.”

“The appointments of Cartes and Velázquez offer a clue as to where to start. Washington must ensure that authorities in Asunción carry out serious investigations into these alleged crimes. At the moment, there are still no pending charges in Paraguay against Cartes or Velázquez. For too long, Paraguay’s corruption has sabotaged the course of justice, not least because of Washington’s indifference to its consequences. The Biden administration’s commitment to fighting corruption may have changed that. Let’s hope it stays the course,” he concludes.

With information from LaPoliticaOnline