PARAGUAY SHAKES UP SECURITY FORCES LEADERSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASUNCION 000814

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/BSC MDASCHBACH AND DS/IP/WHA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2028
TAGS: PTER ASEC MARR PINS PGOV PREL PA
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY SHAKES UP SECURITY FORCES LEADERSHIP

Classified By: DCM Michael J. Fitzpatrick for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Lugo administration in late November
appointed new leadership in the Military Forces and the
National Police in the biggest change in Paraguay's security
apparatus in decades. By retiring many scores of security
officials and promoting a new cadre of leaders, the Lugo
administration reaffirmed civilian political control over the
use of force, reinforced efforts at institutional reform and
decreased corruption in the security forces. Newly appointed
Military Forces Commander Benitez and Police Commissioner
Machado are experienced officials who appear favorably
disposed to the United States. Given tight budgets,
institutional corruption and rising crime, they certainly
have their work cut out for them. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) President Lugo replaced Military Forces Commander
General Bernardino Soto with Rear Admiral Cibar Benitez
Caceres November 19, slightly before the military's normal
December leadership rotation. The following day, Benitez
signed an order reorganizing the military's leadership and
retiring 33 members of Paraguay's top brass. The new
leadership is: Brigadier General Alfredo Machuca Doldan as
Army commander; Coronel Dario Davlos Nunez as Air Force
commander; and Rear Admiral Ruben Valdez Cuellar as Navy
commander. Although Benitez signed the order, DATT sources
indicated November 21 that Defense Minister Luis Bareiro
Spaini and President Fernando Lugo's chief of staff, Michael
Lopez Perito, drafted the order. Although Paraguayan
military tradition stipulates that senior officers retire
when a more junior officer is promoted above them, the
selection of an officer as junior as Benitez as Military
Forces commander is unprecedented.


3. (U) Following prosecutors' announcement November 24 that
they were investigating allegations of widespread corruption
in the National Police, Interior Minister Rafael Filizzola
dismissed Police Commissioner Federico Acuna and Deputy
Police Commissioner Celso Benitez, claiming that their
anti-corruption efforts had been lackluster. (NOTE: Acuna
and Benitez assumed leadership of the National Police August
15 and served just 99 days in office. END NOTE.) In their
place, Filizzola named Viviano Machado, a 30-year police
veteran, as the new police commissioner, and Nestor Baez as
deputy police commissioner. Paraguayan police tradition also
calls for senior officers to retire when a more junior
officer is promoted above them, and Machado's selection as
police commissioner forces the retirement of numerous police
officers. (Minister Filizzola told Ambassador and DCM that it
was a painful decision to sack Acuna, a boyhood friend of
President Lugo and "one of the most honest people in national
public service," because he was unable or unwilling to
frontally attack police corruption. Filizzola was proud of
having authorized the prosecutor's raids on the accounting
office at police headquarters-- which he called a first in
Paraguayan history.)


4. (SBU) COMMENT: By retiring hundreds of security
officials and promoting a new cadre of leaders, the Lugo
administration made clear that these historically autonomous
institutions must respond to national political direction.
The moves also created an impetus to implement institutional
reform and to decrease corruption in the security forces.
Benitez and Machado are experienced officials who appear
favorably disposed to the United States. After 61 years of
Colorado rule, the changes in leadership are largely viewed
as positive, since most high-level security officials were
Colorado insiders. Given widespread police corruption and
citizen concerns regarding crime, Paraguay's new military and
police leadership will need to demonstrate that it can carry
out serious internal reforms while improving Paraguay's
security situation. END COMMENT.

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FITZPATRICK