US embassy cable - 05ASUNCION503

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASUNCION 000503 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INL ABBY SMITH 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC AND EB/IFD/OIA 
NSC FOR KIM BREIER 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD DAN JOHNSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, PA, KCRM 
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY'S 2005 FIRST QUARTER INL REPORT 
 
 
1.  Summary 
- Quarterly activities 
- Program discussion 
- Quarterly SENAD statistics 
 
2.  Quarterly Activities 
 
Counternarcotics 
---------------- 
 
In January, SENAD agents arrested Brazilian narcotrafficking 
fugitive Nilton Cesar Antunez, associated with the Beira Mar 
drug trafficking organization, as well as two of his 
associates and seized 103 kilograms of cocaine.  Until the 
time of his arrest, Antunez reportedly had been involved in 
plotting an assassination attempt on the Governor of Amambay 
Department, Roberto Acevedo, and three other unnamed 
individuals.  In response to these threats, DEA and SENAD 
worked closely with the Brazilian Federal Police, to provide 
timely information on Antunez's movements.  Authorities 
located and arrested Antunez on January 16. 
 
The extradition case against Brazilian narcotrafficking 
kingpin Mendes-Mesquita is still ongoing and is proceeding 
according to Post's expectations.  The judge signed the 
extradition order on April 1, and the case is currently in 
the appeals process.  On the same day, Paraguay extradited 
three other Brazilian narcotraffickers to Brazil. 
 
Reports in the first quarter of 2005 indicate that Brazil's 
new shootdown policy, passed in October 2004, is starting to 
make an impact on narcotraffickers' strategy, forcing them to 
land their planes in Paraguay's Chaco region and smuggle 
their narcotics across the border to Brazil.  After just two 
months of the law's passage, the number of irregular flights 
over Brazil's air space has dropped by half, according to 
Brazilian authorities. 
 
On February 24, Paraguayan daily newspaper, La Nacion, 
published an OpEd from the Ambassador describing the United 
States' National Drug Control Strategy.  The article was 
published to raise awareness in Paraguay that the USG focuses 
a significant amount of its anti-narcotics budget on 
prevention and treatment, not only interdiction. 
 
In March, INL Program Officer Abby Smith visited post.  Ms. 
Smith, accompanied by PolCouns and INL assistant, met with 
representatives from SENAD, SEPRELAD (Paraguay's anti-money 
laundering secretariat), the Ministry of Women, and the 
Ministry of Industry and Commerce.  POL Chief, PolOff, and 
DEA Director also accompanied Ms. Smith to Pedro Juan 
Caballero to meet with Amambay Governor Acevedo as well as 
local judges and prosecutors on drug trafficking in the 
region and to visit the site for construction of the new 
SENAD office with funds from the Andean Initiative account. 
The trip was well-covered by local radio and national press. 
Approximately a dozen individuals gathered outside of the 
Governor's offices to protest the visit, charging the U.S. 
with seeking to exploit the region's aquifer.  (Note:  a 
recurring a "anti-imperalist theme is the claim that the U.S. 
plans to establish a base for intervention and to steal 
Paraguay's water.  End Note). 
 
On March 12, convicted Brazilian drug trafficker Fabricio 
Silveira Machado escaped from Asuncion's Tacumbu prison, 
where he was serving a 25-year sentence for homicide and 
assault with a deadly weapon. The day before his escape, 
March 11, a Paraguayan judge signed an extradition order to 
send Machado to Brazil. Press reports indicate Machado bribed 
prison guards with payments of $3,200 for his release. 
Authorities located one prison guard and discovered Machado's 
bribe money in his possession. 
 
Seized assets from Brazilian drug trafficker Claudair Lopes 
de Faria were sold on March 22 in a public auction in which 
his home furnishings, real estate, and an airplane grossed 
1.1 billion Guaranis (USD 171,000).  Since Lopes was arrested 
based on drug charges in Brazil and not Paraguay, the usual 
70/30 split of seized assets between SENAD and the Ministerio 
Publico does not apply.  Instead, the revenue will be split 
30/30/30/10 among SENAD, the Ministerio Publico, the Poder 
Judicial and an as-yet undetermined non-profit organization. 
SENAD's attorneys will be asking the judge to reconsider this 
distribution, however.  Lopes de Faria was arrested by 
Paraguayan authorities in June 2003 and expelled to Brazil 
where he was sentenced to 480 years in prison for narcotics 
trafficking. 
 
 
Intellectual Property Rights 
---------------------------- 
On February 17, operatives from the Unidad Tecnica 
Especializada (UTE) conducted a raid on several premises 
located in a popular shopping district, Mercado 4, in 
Asuncion.  Over 300,000 forged holograms and more than 20,000 
pirated videos, CDs and DVDs were seized. 
 
 
Trafficking in Persons 
---------------------- 
 
In February, a teenage female prostitution ring was 
dismantled in Lambare (a suburb of Asuncion).  Three women 
were charged with forcing minors into prostitution.  The 
brothels were posing as employment agencies and preying on 
young girls coming from the interior of Asuncion to look for 
employment. 
 
INL funds are being used to renovate an existing office to 
establish a support center for victims of trafficking to be 
run by the Ministry of Women.  A vendor was selected at the 
end of March and worked is planned to begin in April. 
 
 
3.  Program Discussion: 
 
    a.  Demand Reduction 
 
This quarter, the SENAD demand reduction team has conducted 5 
formal training sessions training 103 people and 481 
informative sessions reaching over 15,000 students. 
Activities will continue in the Central Department (where 
Asuncion is located) throughout the second quarter. 
 
    b.  Narcotics Detection Canine Program 
 
No canine-related seizures were made this quarter. 
 
    c.  Eradication Operations 
 
From January 11 to 18, SENAD agents destroyed 223 hectares of 
marijuana during an operation in the Department of Amambay. 
 
From January 31 to February 9, SENAD conducted an eradication 
operation in the Department of Amambay with Brazil as part of 
the ongoing Alianza (Alliance) eradication efforts.  Agents 
destroyed 221 hectares (663,000 kilos) of marijuana. 
 
From February 22 to March 1, SENAD conducted an operation in 
Canindeyu, where drug traffickers forced out of Amambay 
(Pedro Juan Caballero) have relocated.  Agents destroyed 216 
hectares of marijuana and seized an additional 4,670 kilos of 
cut marijuana and destroyed 29 workers' campsites. 
 
In March, SENAD conducted an operation in San Pedro 
eradicating 63 hectares of marijuana.  This eradication took 
place in connection with the GOP's deployment of the police 
and military to San Pedro ostensibly for the purpose of 
tracking down the kidnappers of Cecilia Cubas and instilling 
a greater sense of public security in the region. 
 
 
    d.  Law Enforcement 
 
        1.  Counter Narcotics 
 
In addition to the 103 kilos of cocaine seized during the 
arrest of Brazilian narcotrafficking fugitive Nilton Cesar 
Antunez mentioned above, there was a seizure of 1 kilo of 
cocaine from a Bolivian in Pedro Juan Caballero who was 
considered by SENAD to be an important "mule" in that area. 
 
        2.  Money Laundering and Financial Crime 
 
Hijazi case - The tax evasion case against Kasem Hijazi, 
owner of Telefax, an illegal casa de cambio in Ciudad del 
Este was presented for accusation on February 8.  A trial 
date has not been set.  Prosecutors immediately began 
planning an investigation of authorized casas de cambio 
through which Hijazi moved money to the U.S. and supposedly 
on to the Middle East.  In response to Embassy prodding, 
prosecutors provided copies of the materials used to indict 
Hijazi to the financial investigative unit (FIU) SEPRELAD UAF 
for entry into the FIU database in preparation for further 
investigations. 
 
 
        3.  Rule of Law/Judicial Reform 
 
In March, Post's Resident Legal Advisor organized a visit to 
Puerto Rico for five lead prosecutors from units that 
prosecute sophisticated or complex economic criminal 
violations and five judges representing most of the differing 
strata and functions of the criminal court in Paraguay to 
observe US judicial proceedings.  This visit, as part of a 
series of training efforts, has yielded a unified view among 
participants regarding Code modifications needed to build 
effective cases.  Formal changes in the Code will require 
careful appeals to key legislators to adopt the proper 
legislation. 
 
        4.  Training 
 
In March, INL sponsored a training course conducted by ATF 
officials from Embassy Bogota on firearms identification. 
 
 
        5.  Miscellaneous Issues 
 
 
                                 Quarterly SENAD statistics 
 
                           1st        2nd       3rd     4th 
 
 
Cocaine                 105.9kg 
Seized (kg) 
 
Marijuana               25,601kg 
Seized (kg) 
 
Marijuana               761 hectares 
Crops 
Destroyed 
 
Arrests                 17 
(total) 
 
- Cocaine               10 
 
- Marijuana             0 
  (cultivation) 
 
- Marijuana             6 
 
- Counterfeit           0 
  Currency 
 
- Int'l Trafficking     1 
  Firearms 
 
- Trafficking           0 
  Narcotics 
 
- Illegal Entry         0 
 
- Money Laundering      0 
 
- Result of             0 
  Investigation 
KEANE