PARAGUAY POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC UPDATE FEBRUARY 10

UNCLAS ASUNCION 000128

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/BSC, INL/LP (JIM HIDES)
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: PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG KWMN PA
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC UPDATE FEBRUARY 10
- 16, 2007

REF: ASUNCION 0082


1. (U) SUMMARY:

-- Paraguayan Prostitutes Detained in Spain
-- Stroessner Era PNP Commissioner Sentenced
-- Poor Conditions in Tacumbu for Prisoners
-- Dengue Fever Update

PARAGUAYAN PROSTITUTES DETAINED IN SPAIN


2. (U) Spanish authorites raided a brothel in Cuenca, Spain,
February 3 and detained 21 people, including 17 female
Paraguayan prostitues. The 17 Paraguayans are being detained
on illegal immigration violations. Three perpertrators were
also detained one Spanish citizen, a Paraguayan from Caazapa
Department and a Colombian (no names were released). The
women, according to Elida Romero in the Ministry of Women,
are victims of TIP and all are over the age of 18. It is not
clear at this point if the women will be repatriated.

STROESSNER ERA PNP COMMISSIONER SENTENCED


3. (U) Former National Police Commissioner Eusebio Torres
Romero was ordered to serve house arrest for his
responsibility in the torture and disappearance of brothers
Rodolfo and Benjamin Ramirez Villalba in 1974. In addition,
he was fined 50 million Guaranis (approx. USD 9,671). Judge
Digno Arnaldo Fleitis granted house arrest versus confining
Torres in prison because he is over 70 years old.

POOR CONDITIONS IN TACUMBU FOR PRISONERS


4. (U) Deplorable and unsanitary conditions at Tacumbu prison
for prisoners prompted a 2006 plan to change those conditions
and establish a separate psychiatric area within Tacumbu.
According to recent reports however, that plan has yet to be
implemented and mistreatment of prisoners persist. The
government report notes that prisoners do not have adequate
space to sleep and, in some cases, do not have a mattress.
It also identified concerns for the mentally ill prisoners
who are all housed in 2 rooms and have been largely
abandoned. Indeed, prison authorities do not even know the
names of many of the mental patients being "warehoused" at
the prison. The poor conditions at the prison has increased
health concerns as well. There are currently 43 prisoners
with tuberculosis and 6 with AIDS.

DENGUE FEVER UPDATE


5. (U) Paraguay, as of February 20, has 10,148 confirmed
cases of Dengue fever, including 40 of the deadly hemorrhagic
type, since early January. The outbreak is concentrated
primarily in Asuncion and surrounding areas. Four people
have already died from Dengue Hemorraghic Fever, and the
Ministry of Health has demonstrated a limited ability to
address the epidemic. The Paraguayan government has
martialed its financial resources as well as civilian
employees and the military to assist in the eradication of
the mosquito vectors in the past several weeks but the
infection rate has continued to rise. The Ministry of Health
has purchased 67 new fumigators to spray throughout the
infected regions over the next few weeks. (reftel)

CASON