BLUE LANTERN LEVEL 3: 05-965932 AND 05-967860

UNCLAS ASUNCION 001236

SIPDIS

STATE FOR PM/DTCC BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: BEXP PGOV PA
SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN LEVEL 3: 05-965932 AND 05-967860

REF: A. STATE 121643


B. 97 ASUNCI 02419


1. On September 21, Econoff and ARSO visited the premises
of Vill Distribudores to complete a pre-license check per
action request in Ref A. Prior to the visit, Econoff spoke
via telephone with the current proprietor of the business,
Mr. Carlos Villasanti. Villasanti is the son-in-law of
former owner Carlos Villamayor. Villasanti confirmed the
address and contact of the business. As noted in Ref B.,
Vill Distribudores is run from the family home in Fernando
de la Mora, a middle-class suburb of Asuncion. The
e
business office is a small room in the front of the house.
Villasanti told Econoff that the business only uses a
hotmail e-mail account, and that it has no other e-mail
account or website through which it does business.


2. Econoff and ARSO arrived unannounced at the Villasanti
home to conduct the pre-license check. During the course
of the visit, during which they saw both the business
office and the familys arms depository, both were
convinced that, as noted in Ref. B, the goods being
imported for resale by this business are most likely part
of a supply chain feeding border towns like Pedro Juan
Caballero, a center of drugs and arms trafficking activity.
The guns and ammunition stored at Villasantis home are
minimally secured, and the business appears to have no
system of inventory control, its one employee having to
guess how many rifles and bullets were stored in the room.


3. ARSO requested and received a list, purportedly
complete, of Villasantis customers. When asked
ed
specifically who the requested guns and ammunition were
intended for, Villasanti was evasive, claiming that he was
simply importing them for resale to any of his customers.
He would not identify a specific shop or individual who was
destined to receive the merchandise contained in the
applications listed in Ref. A. Based on the apparent
informal nature of the business, post recommends against
the issuance of an export license.

Keane