Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASUNCION162
2009-03-19 20:48:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Asuncion
Cable title:  

FRAUD SUMMARY Q ASUNCION

Tags:  CMGT KFRD ASEC CVIS CPAS PA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0185
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAC #0162/01 0782048
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 192048Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASUNCION
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7684
RUEHPNH/NVC PORTSMOUTH
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS ASUNCION 000162 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR CA/FPP, HOMELAND SECURITY PASS TO USCIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CMGT KFRD ASEC CVIS CPAS PA
SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY Q ASUNCION

REF: 08 STATE 074840

UNCLAS ASUNCION 000162

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR CA/FPP, HOMELAND SECURITY PASS TO USCIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CMGT KFRD ASEC CVIS CPAS PA
SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY Q ASUNCION

REF: 08 STATE 074840


1. (U) This cable is in response to an action request in
paragraph 6 of retel.

--------------
COUNTRY CONDITIONS
--------------


2. (U) After the 35-year dictatorship of General Alfredo
Stroessner and six decades of Colorado Party rule, Paraguayans
elected former Roman Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo president in
free and fair elections in April 2008. Lugo was inaugurated on
August 15, 2008. He has vowed to fight endemic corruption,
strengthen democratic institutions, generate jobs, invest in
education and social needs, and renegotiate Paraguay's bi-
national dams with Brazil and Argentina. While Lugo's
popularity ratings remain high, the president is struggling to
implement his agenda, which includes controversial judicial and
land reforms, as well as an anti-corruption campaign.


3. (U) This landlocked country of 6.6 million people is hopeful
for change, but endemic corruption, weak government
institutions, difficult economic conditions and an inconsistent
regulatory climate provide incentive and opportunity for
consular fraud in Paraguay. Unemployment and underemployment
are problems and the primary motivators for immigration to
Argentina, Brazil and Spain.


4. (U) Paraguay is beginning to feel the effects of the global
financial crisis. The economic downturn hit Spain particularly
hard, and there are approximately 2,000-3,000 Paraguayans who
want to come back to Paraguay. The Paraguayan government is
trying to help its unemployed and stranded citizens return
home, but the mechanisms have not yet been fully implemented.


5. (U) Paraguay has had great difficulty regulating commerce
in its second largest city, Ciudad del Este, located in the
Paraguay-Argentina-Brazil triQorder region. This region is
noted for trafficking in arms, drugs, contraband, and persons.
This region is also home to large foreign communities,
especially Brazilian, Taiwanese, Korean, and Lebanese, many of
whom retain their foreign nationality. Moreover, many
Paraguayans receive foreign citizenship from Italy, Germany and
Spain through their parents or grandparents, yet their economic
and social situation in Paraguay cannot be compared to the

situation of applicants who are presently living in the
European Union.


6. (U) Civil documentation is lightly controlled in Paraguay.
For example, birth and marriage certificates continue to be
hand written in the interior of the country. Most
documentation cannot be verified. Exchange-rate changes highly
favorable to Paraguay have made travel to the U.S. a
possibility for a larger cohort of Paraguayan society who tend
to travel to Florida, New York, Colorado and Kansas.


7. (U) Post categorizes Paraguay as "low-fraud." The
percentage of applicants refused non-immigrant visas from
October 1, 2008 to March 1, 2009 was 14.18 percent (adjusted).
The number of refusals has increased in the last six months.

--------------
NON-IMMIGRANT VISA FRAUD
--------------


8. (U) Non-immigrant visa (NIV) fraud is generally found in a
manageable percentage of applications. It usually consists of
fake or inflated employment letters and bank statements.
Normally these are detected at intake in cases that are obvious
candidates for refusal under section 214(b) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act. When the Consular Officer suspects that
the applicant is using forged legal documents or bank
statements, the Consular Officer (who also acts as Fraud
Prevention Manager) coordinates with the NIV pre-screener (who
also acts as a Fraud Investigator) and the Regional Security
Office (RSO) to bring in the local police to question the
applicant about the provenance of the documents.


9. (U) The level of official corruption in Paraguay is very
high. It is not difficult to obtain fraudulent official
government documents by paying a small fee. Some immigration
officials are also unscrupulous. A back-dated entry stamp
indicating re-entry into Paraguay months or even years prior to
the actual re-entry date can be easily obtained at the airport
for amounts ranging from USD 20 to USD 100 depending on the
negotiating expertise and contacts of the individual. In some
cases, Paraguayans have obtained this service by sending their
passports via courier from the U.S. to Paraguay to have them
stamped without ever leaving the U.S. The risk of visa fraud
is particularly high in some areas of the country, notably the
towns of Caraguaty (approximately 60 miles from Asuncion) and
Isla Pucu (approximately 52 miles from Asuncion),which are
known for the number of inhabitants who have immigrated to the
U.S., primarily to the New York and New Jersey areas.


10. (U) Post conducts statistically sound validation studies.
Typically, Asuncion validation studies yield confirmed overstay
rates of one to three percent.

--------------
IMMIGRANT VISA FRAUD
--------------


11. (U) Post's cases of immigrant visa (IV) fraud have
historically centered on employment visas. These cases, which
generally involve non-existent companies or positions for which
the applicant did not have the required skills, have been most
common among Korean applicants. Post has also detected and
investigated fraudulent marriages entered into solely for the
purpose of obtaining immigration benefits, and there have been
several cases of falsified New Jersey birth and marriage
certificates in marriage-based petitions.

--------------
DIVERSITY VISA FRAUD
--------------


12. (U) Post historically has not experienced this type of
fraud, most likely due to the low number of Paraguayan
diversity visa (DV) applicants.

--------------
ACS AND U.S. PASSPORT FRAUD
--------------


13. (U) The little ACS fraud that is known to or suspected by
Post occurs when U.S. citizens register orphans as their own
and subsequently apply for Consular Reports of Birth Abroad
(CRBA) and passports, stating that the children are their
biological offspring.

--------------
ADOPTION FRAUD
--------------


14. (U) Adoption related fraud is not apparent at Post.
Paraguay generally does not permit adoption by foreigners who
are not resident in the country.

--------------
USE OF DNA TESTING
--------------


15. (U) Post occasionally uses DNA testing in IV cases. Use of
DNA testing in NIV cases is rarely done.

--------------
ASYLYM AND OTHER DHS BENEFIT FRAUD
--------------


16. (U) Post generally does not encounter asylum or other DHS
benefit fraud.

--------------
ALIEN SMUGGLING, TRAFFICKING,
ORGANIZED CRIME, TERRORIST TRAVEL
--------------


17. (U) Paraguay is a source country for trafficked and
smuggled aliens, but generally they are not destined for the
United States. Trafficking and smuggling visible to the
Consular Section would most likely involve fraudulent domestic
employee visas. Post has stepped up scrutiny in these cases
after seeing a series of suspicious cases close together.
However, the cases were not related and the volume is quite
low. Regarding possible terrorist and criminal travel, Post has
begun applying increased scrutiny to applicants from exchange
houses (casas de cambio) and import-export firms from the Tri-
Border Area (TBA). In these cases, the scrutiny is not directed
against visa fraud per se, but against the likely activities of
the applicants if they come to the United States.

--------------
DS CRIMINAL FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS
--------------


18. (U) The Consular Section and RSO work very closely on every
fraud case. Asuncion is a small mission with two Consular
Officers and two DS agents. Cases are referred to RSO whenever
the Consular Officer or the FPU LES suspect fraud.

--------------
HOST COUNTRY PASSPORT, IDENTITY DOCUMENTS
AND CIVIL REGISTRY
--------------


19. (U) The Paraguayan passport is a low-tech, but ICAO-
compliant document. The books are produced under contract by
the La Rue Company. The Crane Company now prints the country's
currency. The passport features high-security paper, the
applicant's fingerprint, and a secure laminate on the
biographical page. The passport is particularly vulnerable to
photo-substitution. The passport application process has good
procedural integrity, but the human element is crucial and
lacking in integrity on occasion. No automated record checks
are utilized to vet passport applications. Furthermore,
passports can be renewed long after their expiration without
the bearer having to provide a new photograph, which also makes
the Paraguayan passport vulnerable to use by impostors.


20. (U) Other civil documentation is very lightly controlled.
Post requires most civil documents used to support consular
applications to be legalized at a civil registry or at the
Ministry of External Relations, depending on the document.
Post, as a rule, does not consider civil documentation by
itself to be absolute proof of the fact claimed by the
document.

--------------
COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES
--------------


21. (U) Cooperation with Government of Paraguay (GOP)
authorities on consular fraud issues is generally good.
However, prosecutors are sometimes hamstrung when the apparent
victim of a fraud scheme - usually someone who has paid money
to a visa "fixer" who has no connection to the Embassy and no
intention of ever getting a visa for the victim - declines to
go forward with a police report. That said, police cooperation
has been very good; it helps the Embassy create an atmosphere
that deters attempts at visa fraud.

--------------
AREAS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN
--------------


22. (U) Easy access to fraudulent documents is the primary area
of concern, particularly when they are used to paper over
possible illegal activity in Ciudad del Este and the Tri-border
region. Internal controls in both the manufacture and issuance
processes of birth certificates are virtually non-existent.
Records are kept manually, and it is common practice in
Paraguay to register a birth up to twenty years after the
actual date of birth. Compounding this lack of internal
controls is the unfortunate fact that a large percentage of the
Civil Registry workforce is unpaid and therefore vulnerable to
bribes.

--------------
STAFFING
--------------

Ernest J. Abisellan, Consul and Accountable Consular Officer
Olga Elena Bashbush, Vice-Consul and Fraud Prevention Manager
Marie France Liegard, NIV Assistant
Irma Liliana Casali, IV Assistant
Claudia Escobar, ACS Assistant
Jorge Arias, Fraud Investigator and NIV Assistant
Post notes initial CA and DS approval for a new ARSO-I
position, and CA approval of a temporary ACS Assistant.

AYALDE