PARAGUAY: NEW MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASUNCION 000734

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/BSC, EB/IFD/OIA, AND INR-B
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/AA
STATE PASS TO USTR FOR SCRONIN AND LYANG
NSC FOR KIM BREIER
TREASURY FOR OSIA MAUREEN WAFER
TREASURY FOR OTA WARFIELD, VAN KOCH, MILLAR
COMMERCE FOR ITA SARAH COOK
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD DAN JOHNSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PA
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY: NEW MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE
RAUL VERA BOGADO BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION


Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN F. KEANE FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D).


1. (U) Biographic information of the new Minister of
Industry and Commerce, Raul Vera Bogado.


2. (U) In late May 2005, President Duarte appointed
technocrat Raul Vera as the Minister of Industry and
Commerce, replacing Ernst Bergen, the new Minister of
Finance. Before his appointment as Minister, Vera served
most notably as the President and Chairman of the Board of
Directors of the Central Bank of Paraguay from May
2001-November 2002. As President of the Central Bank, Vera
performed duties as Governor for Paraguay at the
International Monetary Fund, a Member of the National Council
of Economic Policies, and a Member of the Common Market
Council of MERCOSUR.


3. (U) Vera worked in the Dominican Republic with the
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) from 2003-2005, as
a National Consultant for financial intermediation issues,
and as Director of GADES (Advisory Group for Sustainable
Development). He occupied several high-ranking career
positions at the Central Bank as Manager of the Economic
Research Area in May 1997, and Director of the Department of
International Economics, in 1995.


4. (C) Vera, viewed as a reformer, resigned as Central Bank
president as a matter of principle citing differences and a
lack of support by then-President Gonzalez Macchi. He is a
close associate of present Ambassador to the United States
and former Minister of Finance, James Spalding. Also a
technocrat, Spalding resigned from his position within the
Ministry within days of Vera over similar problems with the
Gonzalez Macchi administration.


5. (U) Vera attended the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, where he graduated with a Masters Degree of
Science in Policy Economics in December 1994. He was born on
January 30, 1967, and speaks Spanish and English.
KEANE