PARAGUAY POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC UPDATE, NOVEMBER 4

UNCLAS ASUNCION 001130 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR WHA/BSC, INL/LP (JIM HIDES),AND EB/IFD/OIA STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/AA STATE PASS TO USTR FOR LYANG NSC FOR SUE CRONIN TREASURY FOR OSIA MAUREEN WAFER TREASURY FOR OTA WARFIELD, VAN KOCH, MILLAR COMMERCE FOR ITA SARAH COOK SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV PA VE UR AR BR BO JA SP SUBJECT: PARAGUAY POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC UPDATE, NOVEMBER 4 - 9, 2006 REF: ASUNCION 1089 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: -- Journalists March for Enrique Galeano -- Paraguay Ranked 5th Worst in Latin America -- U.N. Tells Paraguay Ratify Arms Trafficking Protocol -- The Royals, Evo and Paraguay JOURNALISTS MARCH FOR ENRIQUE GALEANO ¶2. (U) The Paraguayan Journalist Union (SPP) organized a "March for Life" November 3 to call attention to the disappearance of journalist Enrique Galeano. More than 100 people attended the protest in the Plaza of the Disappeared, located adjacent to the Government Palace in Asuncion. Nine months ago, Galeano was declared missing after he did not return home from work. Galeano had issued numerous critical statements about individuals, including local Congressman Magdaleno Silva of the Colorado Party, on his radio station tying them to drug trafficking and corruption. The SPP has remained very outspoken in its quest to have the government continue its search for Galeano and hold those responsible for his disappearance accountable. The case is still under investigation by the Attorney General's Office. (NOTE: The SPP has sought the assistance of the InterAmerican Court on Human Rights (IACHR) at the OAS to push the GOP to continue in searching for Galeano and those responsible for his disappearance. In October, the IACHR sent a letter to the GOP requesting information about the case. The GOP is in the process of responding. END NOTE). PARAGUAY RANKED 5TH WORST IN LATIN AMERICA ¶3. (U) Paraguay ranked 116 of 163 countries and remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International's Perceptions Index released November 6. Paraguay's score ranked it as the 5th-most corrupt country in Latin America, an improvement over the previous year when it ranked second only to Haiti. Paraguay's score of 2.6 represented a 0.5 point improvement over last year's score on a 10-point scale and marked the third straight year Paraguay has improved its score. But it still falls comfortably into the "rampant corruption" 
category. U.N. TELLS PARAGUAY RATIFY ARMS TRAFFICKING PROTOCOL ¶4. (U) The U.N. held a conference in June to review progress made on its program to address the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. As a result, the U.N. called on Paraguay to ratify the "Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition," which came into force in July ¶2005. In 2001, U.N. Member States unanimously adopted the protocol, committing themselves to collecting and destroying illegal weapons, adopting and/or improving national legislation to help criminalize the illicit trade of weapons, regulating the activities of brokers, setting strict import and export controls, taking action against violators of such laws, and better coordinating international efforts to that end. (NOTE: Paraguay's War Materials Directorate (DIMABEL) is responsible for controlling and registering weapons. However, DIMABEL does not have an operational unit capable of investigating illegal arms transactions and thus has not been active in making seizures. On a positive note, Paraguay's Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD) is allowed to make weapons seizures when it can tie weapons to information acquired from drug traffickers. On that basis, SENAD has seized over 1,200 weapons in three major raids over the last three months. END NOTE). ¶5. (SBU) In its June 2006 report the U.N. Review Conference on Small Arms identified Paraguay as 1 of 60 countries that has collected and destroyed large amounts of illegal small arms. However, it also noted that Paraguay, along with Uruguay, had not ratified the Protocol. Other Mercosur countries, Brazil and Argentina, have already adopted the Protocol and strengthened their national legislation to control the illegal trade in small arms. SENAD Minister Hugo Ibarra told POLOFF October 25 that the weapons are legally purchased by distributors and gun dealerships. However, these companies, which do not do background checks on purchasers, resell legal and illegal weapons to criminal organizations, which then traffic them across Paraguay's porous borders with impunity. Ibarra acknowledged Paraguay's control over the importation and sale of weapons is extremely limited (reftel). The UN just hosted a two-day conference here, with MFA support, to encourage Mercosur states to pull up their socks and clamp down on gun-running. THE ROYALS, EVO AND PARAGUAY ¶6. (U) In recent weeks, the King and Queen of Spain, Juan Carlos Borbon and Sofia Frederika; Japanese Prince Akishino Fumihito; and Bolivian President Evo Morales have all made state visits with President Nicanor Duarte. The Royals met with Duarte to discuss migration issues as well as economic development and debt suspension. King Juan Carlos offered a loan of USD 10 million for small businesses and offered to exchange USD 11 million of the Paraguayan debt of USD 37 million for education projects. Prince Akishino expressed his father's hope for further development in relations and commemorated the 70th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Paraguay. While Evo Morales met with Duarte to continue dialogue to quash the concerns over the Bolivian/Venezuelan military agreement. The two presidents are scheduled to meet again December 8 in Cochabamba during the Summit of South American Presidents. CASON