HomeNewsBriefParaguay Politicians Walk Back Proposal to Gut Campaign Finance Rules
BRIEF

Paraguay Politicians Walk Back Proposal to Gut Campaign Finance Rules

ELITES AND CRIME / 6 JUL 2017 BY TRISTAN CLAVEL EN

Under public pressure, Paraguay's deputies backtracked on last-minute modifications that had left completely hollow a bill meant to address criminal infiltration of politics through campaign financing, an issue present throughout the region.

Following accusations that the modifications would allow drug money to finance political campaigns, Paraguay's lower house voted on July 5 to annul amendments passed the previous day to a bill concerning general elections, reported La Nación.

On July 4, the legal limit of private campaign donations had been increased tenfold, allowing individuals to contribute a little over 3.9 billion Paraguayan guaranies (more than $700,000) instead of the 392 million guaranies (around $70,000) originally stipulated by the text, reported ABC Color.

Deputies had also blocked Paraguay's anti-money laundering secretary and the comptroller general from being involved in campaign audits.

In addition, a rather sensible proposition to prohibit donations from individuals previously prosecuted for money laundering or drug trafficking was rejected, while one deputy unsuccessfully attempted to ease obligations to justify spending with invoices and to cancel the mandatory recording of donations in a centralized national registry.

The text was finally tabled for a month and sent back to relevant commissions, according to a congressional press release.

InSight Crime Analysis

Paraguay will hold general elections next year. Unfortunately, like many Latin American countries, the nation is far from ensuring elections free from criminal influence through political funding.

The attempt by certain deputies to effectively demolish campaign finance regulations is likely related to the fact that the legislature is plagued by corruption and the drug ties of some of its members, giving representatives little incentive to effectively crack down on themselves.

But while the extent of criminal infiltration in Paraguay's congress -- and its political elite more generally -- renders financing regulations particularly vital for the country, this issue has affected many other countries throughout Latin America.

SEE ALSO: InDepth Coverage of Elites and Organized Crime

In Brazil, powerful state and private companies were able to use campaign financing to help grease the wheels of what may well be the largest corruption scandal in history. And in Guatemala, illicit campaign donations helped former President Otto Pérez Molina and former Vice President Roxana Baldetti get elected; once they were in office, they repaid their donors with lucrative kickbacks at the state's expense.

The revelation of these schemes shows the importance of implementing and enforcing strong campaign finance regulations in order to cut off at least one path that organized crime can use to influence politics.

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

COLOMBIA / 3 OCT 2022

Colombian rebels had long been welcome in Venezuela but now, they have arrived in force, bringing conflict with them.

ELITES AND CRIME / 14 JUN 2022

Dario Messer, one of the most audacious money launderers in Latin American history, is facing jail time in Brazil but…

COCAINE / 15 FEB 2022

With the arrest of former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández on drug charges, US prosecutors have brought down a powerful…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…