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REPORTS: PARAGUAY |
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Scandal
Strikes at Highest Level
Alejandro
Sciscioli
ASUNCION, (IPS) - A scandal in
Paraguay involving more than a million
contraband compact discs and the
obstruction of investigation by
officials has cost the jobs of three
men close to President Nicanor Duarte
Frutos.
The president, who took office two
months ago, had made the fight against
corruption a key issue in his
electoral campaign.
This is the first crisis that the new
government has had to confront, but,
adding insult to injury, just last
week, Paraguay was pegged as the
fourth-most corrupt country in the
world, and the most corrupt in South
America, in Transparency
International's annual Corruption
Perceptions Index.
The officials that the president
removed from their posts were Roberto
González, minister of interior,
Gustavo Volpe, national customs
director, and Tomás Chamorro, chief
of the National Police.
Political experts consulted by IPS see
the president's move as a positive
step, though most agreed that it does
not go for enough.
”No one can have any doubt about the
objective approach of the presidential
decision. However, the point up for
debate is whether Duarte Frutos acted
in motivation of his convictions or if
he was pressured by the unfolding of
the events,” political and economic
analyst Félix María Lugo told IPS.
In his opinion, the three officials
were performing their duties well, but
then fell into ”the trap of those
who run the contraband mafia.”
”But the events took place and
Duarte Frutos acted in order to send a
clear signal that in the current
political context rank is of no
importance. Everyone is obligated to
comply with established laws,” said
Lugo.
Nevertheless, he said, despite the
correctness of the measures for
upholding the government's pledge to
tackle corruption and impunity, ”we
are finding that it does not have the
same force in all areas.”
”No one can doubt that the fight
against pirating music and computer
programmes is tough. But in comparison
with the fight against cigarette label
falsification, there is not the same
impetus.”
As an example, Lugo cited the names of
two important tobacco industry
businessmen, who are also part of the
political establishment as members of
the governing Colorado Party (also
known as the Republican National
Association, ANR), governing Paraguay
since 1947.
One is Reinerio Santacruz, first
vice-president of the Colorados, and
the other is his rival within the
party, Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb,
president of the powerful football
club Olimpia and a major financial
contributor to Duarte Frutos'
electoral campaign.
Domínguez Dibb ”is harshly
questioned by big tobacco companies,
like British American Tobacco,
Brazil's Souza Cruz, and Argentina's
Nobleza Piccardo, for falsifying their
brandnames,” Lugo said.
Alfredo Boccia Paz, a political
analyst and human rights activist,
agrees with Lugo that the president's
removal of González, Volpe and
Chamorro from office was a positive
but insufficient move.
”It is the first test the government
faces, and it has come much sooner
than could be expected,” Boccia said
in comments to IPS.
The president ”did what he had to,
especially if we take into account
that just a few days ago he met with
(U.S. President) George W. Bush,
promising him a head-on attack against
corruption,” he said.
Boccia noted that Duarte Frutos came
out ”almost unscathed from the
crisis.”
It is ”a very positive” factor
that the president is maintaining a
strict discourse amongst the officials
in his administration to carry out a
clean government.
”But what has been done so far is
not enough,” said the expert,
stressing that the president must also
tackle the impunity enjoyed by a sort
of mafioso structure entrenched in the
ruling party and its ties to
corruption.
The story that culminated in the
removal of a Cabinet minister began
Oct. 6, when officials from the
National Police crime investigation
department detained a truck carrying a
full load of blank compact discs,
without the appropriate shipping
documents.
That day, customs dispatcher José
Chaparro contacted the now-former
customs director Volpe and took charge
of the seized goods, without
presenting the documents that stated
they were indeed illegal.
Volpe then communicated with González,
to explain what had happened and to
request action against the police
officers who had detained the truck,
citing the presidential decree against
highway checkpoints -- an effort to
prevent bribes.
The police who took part in the
seizure of what some reported was more
than a million CDs received harsh
penalties, and some were fired.
González decided to involve the
government's trademark investigator,
Carmen Gubetich de Cattoni, who the
next day accredited the CD shipment
and released the truck, saying the
owner had presented the appropriate
documentation.
But the scandal erupted last Thursday
and Friday, when news reports
indicated that the CDs had been
smuggled into Paraguay through the
southwest port of Villeta, and that
the papers Chaparro had presented were
really for a different shipment.
By Saturday, Chaparro was on the run,
and it was found that he had previous
arrest orders pending -- also for
contraband.
Meanwhile, the CD shipment had
disappeared.
President Duarte Frutos on Sunday
ordered the removal of the three men
-- González, Volpe and Chamorro -- in
whom he had placed trust in leading
the fight against corruption.
”The mafia thought that the
government would not have the courage
to act. However, without hesitation,
and considering the country's
interests, we have taken the necessary
measures,” Duarte Frutos said.
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