HomeNewsBrief'No Contraband Case Has Ever Gone to Trial in Paraguay'
BRIEF

'No Contraband Case Has Ever Gone to Trial in Paraguay'

CONTRABAND / 12 MAY 2015 BY LOREN RIESENFELD EN

Paraguay has only one judge in charge of handling contraband cases, a startling admission in a country where smuggled contraband goods like sugar and cigarettes are endemic, highlighting the judicial system’s inability to successfully prosecute this type of crime.

Humberto Otazu, the only judge designated by the Supreme Court as competent enough to handle contraband cases, told Paraguayan news outlet ABC Color that so far, no contraband smuggling cases have reached the stage of oral trials. Major smuggling cases involving large companies -- like 1,400 tons of sugar seized in June 2014 -- are still underway in the judicial system, but minor cases of street vendors selling contraband goods are rarely ever prosecuted, the judge said.

Paraguay’s main anti-smuggling body, known as the UIC by its Spanish acronym, has apprehended around $2.7 million in contraband goods and arrested 53 people this year, according to ABC.

President Horacio Cartes -- who has come under scrutiny for his own connections to the contraband cigarette trade -- created the UIC in 2013. Since then, prosecutors say they have seized around $260 million in contraband.

InSight Crime Analysis

Contraband smuggling is a lucrative trade in Paraguay. According to statements made by a government official in 2013, the country loses some $100 million a year to smuggling. However, figures from the UIC suggest that this underestimates the scope of Paraguay's contraband market.

The coordinator of the UIC has called the country's contraband trade an "uncontainable avalanche." And while all manner of goods, including electronics, fruit, vegetables, beer, and oil, make their way across the country’s porous borders with Brazil and Argentina, the most flagrant cases involve sugar and cigarettes.

In one Brazilian state, authorities seized over eight million packs of contraband cigarettes in 2013, most of which are smuggled over the border from Paraguay. Cigarettes from one of Paraguay's largest tobacco companies, Tabesa, which is owned by President Cartes, have flooded illegal markets in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Contraband  

Notably, one case involving the seizure of 160 tons of sugar in March 2014 -- which implicated several Paraguayan companies -- faced a major setback when the customs agency decided to dismiss their administrators charged with the investigation.

Exacerbating the problem is the inadequacy of the country’s judicial system to handle even the most basic cases. In 2013, a network of corrupt judges that allegedly gave drug traffickers lenient sentences was uncovered in the Triple Frontier region, a major contraband hub. Meanwhile, in the department of Amambay, which lies along the Brazilian border and is a major hub for cocaine and marijuana trafficking, there is only one anti-drug prosecutor.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

FENTANYL / 13 JUL 2022

Paraguayan authorities have dismantled a network of pharmacies that illegally sold morphine and fentanyl.

CARIBBEAN / 15 OCT 2021

Merchants travelling to Trinidad and Tobago, fishing vessels, even the occasional tourist – all are tempting targets for pirates off…

CONTRABAND / 15 MAY 2023

The illegal sale of scrap metal has become another earner for government officials and military figures in Venezuela.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…