The decision was communicated to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration this week and will take effect next year. It jeopardizes several high-level investigations, including the search for Sebastián Marset, a fugitive drug kingpin who bankrolled professional soccer teams across South America and inserted himself into their starting lineups.
Paraguay has become a major hub for cocaine shipments from Bolivia to Europe. Paraguayan politicians have been implicated in that boom; Sen. Erico Galeano, for example, was indicted for his ties to Marset’s operation.
“If the cooperation ends,” said Deny Yoon Pak, the Paraguayan prosecutor leading the country’s largest investigation into organized crime and drug trafficking, “who is going to investigate for me to capture Sebastián Marset? Nobody.”
Decision to withdraw
U.S. officials confirmed they had been informed of Paraguay’s decision to withdraw antidrug cooperation on Dec. 3.
In recent years, a U.S. official said, the joint team of U.S. and Paraguayan investigators “has been the driving force behind the vast majority of Paraguay’s record-setting drug seizures and high-profile, complex drug trafficking investigations,” such as the operation known as “A Ultranza PY.”
“We are concerned about what it means that Paraguay’s antidrug agency no longer wants to be part of such a successful mechanism.”
A spokesman for Paraguay’s antidrug agency declined to comment.
However, an agency official said, “the order came from above.” It was a “political” decision made by the central government and communicated to the head of the drug agency, who agreed with the move, the official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.
The official attributed the decision partly to a lack of results this year by the elite unit of Paraguayan law enforcement that partners with the United States. The unit, called the Sensitive Intelligence Unit (SIU), includes members of Paraguay’s antidrug agency, known as SENAD, and officials from the national police.
The move won’t take effect for another three months, giving the Paraguayan government time to reconsider, the antidrug agency official said. President-elect Donald Trump, set to take office next month, has said he plans to intensify efforts against drug trafficking.
