The Americas | Smokes and fire

The United States says corruption in Paraguay starts at the top

The ruling party will shrug off fresh sanctions

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Nathalia Aguilar/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13672519a)Horacio Cartes, former president of Paraguay and pre-candidate for the presidency of the National Republican Association (ANR), leaves the Lt. Milciades Pineiro school after finishing voting, in Asuncion, Paraguay, 18 December 2022. Some 4.8 million voters are called to choose 18 December the candidates that the political parties and movements of Paraguay will nominate for the April 2023 elections, from which the new president and vice president will emerge, as well as other national and regional.Elections in Paraguay, Asuncion - 18 Dec 2022 — Cartes looks beyond the sanctionsImage: REX Shutterstock

Feb 2nd 2023|ASUNCIÓN

CORRUPTION IS nothing new in Paraguay. But the scale of the backlash from the United States it has provoked may be. At a press conference in his embassy in Asunción on January 26th, Marc Ostfield, the us ambassador, unveiled harsh new sanctions on the two most powerful figures in the ruling Colorado Party. Horacio Cartes, the country’s president from 2013 to 2018, and Hugo Velázquez, the current vice-president, are accused of “rampant corruption” and ties to terrorists.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Smokes and fire”