The United States Department of the Treasury announced this Friday the inclusion of the Tabacalera del Este (Tabesa) company on its Magnitsky List, which includes individuals and entities accused of corruption, due to their ties to former Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes.
Cartes, who held the presidency of Paraguay between 2013 and 2018 and who had previously been sanctioned by Washington, would own “directly or indirectly” at least 50% of the company, which he would have used to evade the sanctions that have already been imposed. weigh on him, details a release of the Treasury.
The former president himself, recalls the note, had already been included on the Magnitsky List in January of this year “for his participation in acts of corruption.” Likewise, at that time the US authorities also pointed to Tabacos USA (Tabacos) for being a company “owned or controlled by Cartes”.
On that occasion, in addition, Washington accused both Cartes and the country’s current vice president, Hugo Velázquez, of having ties to the extremist group in the Middle East Hezbollah, designated by the US as a terrorist organization.
Precisely, a week ago, the Attorney General of Paraguay announced the opening of a criminal case against both due to the accusations of the United States.
Specifically, the attorney general, Emiliano Rolón Fernández, said that a task force will examine the accusations and that both Cartes and Velásquez “undermined the stability of Paraguay’s democratic institutions” due to “their involvement in significant corruption.”
Cartes and Velázquez have previously denied the accusations.
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