PARAGUAY: POST PLAN FOR UNSCR 1617

UNCLAS ASUNCION 001149 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/EPSC, EB/IFD/OIA STATE PASS TO USTR FOR LYANG USAID FOR AA/LAC ADOLFO FRANCO TREASURY FOR OSIA MAUREEN WAFER COMMERCE ITA SARAH COOK NSC FOR MIKE DEMPSEY AND SUE CRONIN SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD US SOUTHERN COMMAND MIAMI, FLORIDA SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTFN ETTC EFIN PTER KSEP CVIS KPAO OIIP PA SUBJECT: PARAGUAY: POST PLAN FOR UNSCR 1617 Ref: 05 STATE 145310 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶2. (SBU) Post agrees with Department's view on the importance of the passage of UNSCR 1617 and has developed an action plan as suggested in refel. Our public diplomacy strategy plans to incorporate all relevant points into our public diplomacy outreach efforts at post - involving media appearances of the AMB, DCM, PAO and others. Post was able to use recent visits by SecDef Rumsfeld and Treasury A/S Glazer to broach these themes in public and press-related fora. Post also has a U.S. speaker program scheduled for October, focused on the specific theme of CT-ML, and will request more. Relevant Washington File material on the subject will continue to be pressed upon media contacts. Post will endeavor to feature this thematic priority on the embassy website as well. ¶3. (SBU) The global effort spearheaded by UNSCR 1617 comes at a particularly opportune time for our situation in Paraguay. The government submitted a modern anti-money laundering law, drafted with the help of USG advisors from Treasury and Justice, to Congress in May 2004, where it has languished. The host government has indicated its hesitation to be seen as responding to a specifically US-led attack on money laundering and terrorist financing. The demonstrably multi-lateral effort and concern represented by UNSCR 1617 provides an important tool for our public diplomacy and for our private interactions with the executive and legislative branches. KEANE