US embassy cable - 05ASUNCION1296

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASUNCION 001296 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/IFD/OIA 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/AA 
STATE PASS TO USTR FOR LYANG 
NSC FOR SUE CRONIN 
TREASURY FOR OSIA MAUREEN WAFER 
TREASURY FOR OTA WARFIELD, VAN KOCH, MILLAR 
COMMERCE FOR ITA SARAH COOK 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD DAN JOHNSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, ECON, PA, SNAR 
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC UPDATE, OCT. 09 - 
OCT. 16 
 
1.(U) Summary 
 -- President Appoints New Presidential Security Advisor 
 -- SENAD Capture Peruvian Cocaine Trafficker in Asuncion 
 -- Foot and Mouth Outbreak in Brazil Triggers Response 
 -- World Bank and Paraguay Cooperating for Financial 
Transparency 
 
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President Appoints New Presidential Security Advisor 
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2. (U) On 10/10, President Duarte announced and signed a 
decree appointing former Attorney General Oscar German 
Latorre as the new presidential security advisor. Latorre 
will have the rank and privileges of a cabinet minister. This 
newly created executive office will advise the President on 
national security matters.  Latorre's new responsibilities 
will include evaluation and proposal of policies and 
legislative reforms to combat crimes such as drug 
trafficking, money laundering, and kidnapping, among other 
crimes.  Reports indicate that Latorre's first domestic 
proposal will be a gun control bill. It is not clear at this 
time what the budget of this office will be and how this 
office will be staffed but, Latorre is expected to request 
security agents from other agencies to be assigned to his 
office.  As more information becomes available Post will 
report further on this issue in septel. NOTE: Recently, 
Latorre was rumored to be President Duarte,s designee to 
head on intellengence affairs by virtue of a decree.  The 
ensuing controversy and the creation of intelligence office 
prompted Duarte to suspend it creation by decree and explore 
instead enabling legislation. To our knowledge such 
legislation has yet been submitted to Congress. END NOTE. 
 
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SENAD Capture Peruvian Cocaine Trafficker in Asuncion 
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3.(U) On 10/11, SENAD agents arrested 5 Peruvian citizens for 
drug trafficking.  Three were captured at a SENAD station 
located in the Chaco region and 2 at the central bus terminal 
in Asuncion.  According to reports, the five men swallowed 
approximatly 224 capsules filled with cocaine. Apparently the 
Peruvians swallowed the capsules in Peru. Their final 
destination was Asuncion were they expected their payment. 
SENAD agents have indicated that they are expecting to make 
more arrests in the case. 
 
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Foot and Mouth Outbreak in Brazil Triggers Response 
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4.(U) On 10/10, Paraguay,s animal health services, SENACSA, 
released a "Sanitary Alert Plan" to control the spread of 
Foot and Mouth disease (FMD), which was recently discovered 
on a cattle ranch in the neighboring southern Brazilian 
province of Matto Grosso do Sul, approximately 45 kilometers 
from the border with Paraguay.  SEENACSA is presently 
enforcing a 30 kilometer alert zone along Paraguay,s border 
with Brazil, from the district of Pedro Juan Caballero in the 
Department of Amambay to Cuidad del Este in the Department of 
Alto Parana.  According to SENACSA,s alert plan, authorities 
are controlling the entry of all species susceptible to FMD, 
and are requiring mandatory disinfection of all vehicles 
entering the alert zone from Brazil.  They are also issuing 
veterinary teams to increase monitoring of cattle ranches in 
the area. 
 
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World Bank & Paraguay Cooperating for Financial Transparency 
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5.(U) On 10/12, the World Bank in coordination with the 
Paraguayan Ministry of Finance, announced a joint effort in 
creating programs of accounting and audits with the objective 
to develop a plan of action to improve norms and codes to 
bring Paraguay information compliance with international 
standards. According to reports, Orlando Ferreira a World 
Bank official explained that the program looks at improving 
the transparency in matters of financial information. 
Ferreira also expressed that this program was already 
established in 10 countries in the region; and pointed out 
that the program has had good results in matters of 
competitiveness, access to credit, reduction in fraud and 
fundamentally improve financial information for the 
consumers. 
KEANE