US Sanctions Paraguay VP, Former President for Links to Hezbollah

Horacio Cartes, former president of Paraguay and pre-candidate for the presidency of the National Republican Association (ANR), talks with the media after voting in his party's primary election at a poll station in Asuncion, Paraguay, December 18, 2022. REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo
Horacio Cartes, former president of Paraguay and pre-candidate for the presidency of the National Republican Association (ANR), talks with the media after voting in his party's primary election at a poll station in Asuncion, Paraguay, December 18, 2022. REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo
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US Sanctions Paraguay VP, Former President for Links to Hezbollah

Horacio Cartes, former president of Paraguay and pre-candidate for the presidency of the National Republican Association (ANR), talks with the media after voting in his party's primary election at a poll station in Asuncion, Paraguay, December 18, 2022. REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo
Horacio Cartes, former president of Paraguay and pre-candidate for the presidency of the National Republican Association (ANR), talks with the media after voting in his party's primary election at a poll station in Asuncion, Paraguay, December 18, 2022. REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo

The United States issued sanctions against Paraguay’s former President Horacio Cartes Jara and current Vice President Hugo Velázquez Moreno on Thursday, unveiling explosive accusations that they participated in widespread schemes of corruption and have ties to members of a terrorist organization.

Cartes and Velázquez have been involved “in systemic corruption that has undermined democratic institutions in Paraguay” and have ties to members of Hezbollah, which the United States designates as a terrorist organization, the Treasury Department said.

As a result, “these two people are now blocked from using the United States financial system,” Marc Ostfield, US ambassador in Paraguay, said at a news conference.

Both Cartes and Velázquez were included on a US corruption list last year, but now the accusations against them have been expanded. The Treasury also issued sanctions against four companies owned or controlled by Cartes: Tabacos USA, Bebidas USA, Dominicana Acquisition and Frigorifico Chajha.

Velázquez said he was “surprised” by the allegations against him and “categorically” rejected the claims, adding that he was unaware of the details and has asked the United States for more information.

“I absolutely don’t have ties to Hezbollah … or any other terrorist group,” the vice president told a local radio station Thursday. He added that he had no plans to resign.

“I was elected by the Paraguayan people,” he said.

Cartes, who was president in 2013-2018, “did not immediately comment, but he rejected US claims of corruption last year. “I deny and reject the content of the allegations,” Cartes wrote on Twitter in July 2022, and said he was “committed to offering all the support and primary-source information that the authorities need to clarify” anything.

The United States has long said the porous tri-border region that connects Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay is a hub for terrorism financing through money laundering of illicit activity. The US has identified what it has described as members of the Hezbollah group who use front companies in the region to finance terror activities in the Middle East.

The State Department has said that corruption in Paraguay often prevents convictions in money-laundering and terrorism financing cases.

Cartes, described by the US as “one of the wealthiest individuals in Paraguay,” has "engaged in a concerted pattern of corruption, including widespread bribery of government officials and legislators,” the State Department said Thursday.

The sanctions rocked Paraguay’s political world, with opposition lawmakers demanding the launch of investigations into Cartes, Velázquez and all lawmakers who may have received bribes.

In his quest to become president, Cartes repeatedly doled out cash to officials, a pattern that continued during his presidency and after he stepped down, according to US officials.

They say that initially, after Cartes joined the Colorado Party in 2009, he bribed officials to persuade them to eliminate the party’s requirement that someone had to be affiliated for 10 years before running as its presidential nominee. He then proceeded to pay some members of the party as much as $10,000 to support his candidacy, Treasury said.

While president, Cartes made monthly payments of anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 to a group of “loyal legislators” in order to make sure he kept control over Congress, the US said. Those payments continued after he left office to make sure lawmakers voted in his interest, Treasury said.

Overall, the former president, who still leads the Colorado Party, has “leveraged his illicitly acquired wealth and influence to expand his political and economic power over Paraguayan institutions,” the State Department said.

The accusations against Velázquez were less detailed, with Treasury saying only that the vice president “has also engaged in corrupt practices to interfere with legal processes and protect himself and criminal associates from criminal investigations,” including by bribing and threatening officials to make sure his illicit activity wasn’t exposed.

The United States also alleges that “representatives of both Cartes and Velázquez have collected bribes” at private events held by Hezbollah in Paraguay.



Israel Seals off the Occupied West Bank

Palestinians walk by the closed Deir Sharaf checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk by the closed Deir Sharaf checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Seals off the Occupied West Bank

Palestinians walk by the closed Deir Sharaf checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk by the closed Deir Sharaf checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)

Israel closed all checkpoints to the Israeli-occupied West Bank Friday as the country attacked Iran, a military official said Friday.

The move sealed off entry and exit to the territory, meaning that Palestinians could not leave without special coordination.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military recommendations.

Around 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank under Israeli military rule.

With the world’s attention focused on Gaza, Israeli military operations in the West Bank have grown in size, frequency and intensity.

The crackdown has also left tens of thousands unemployed, as they can no longer work the mostly menial jobs in Israel that paid higher wages.

Israel launched a wave of strikes across Iran on Friday that targeted its nuclear program and military sites, killing at least two top military officers and raising the prospect of an all-out war between the two bitter adversaries. It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq.

The strikes came amid simmering tensions over Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program and appeared certain to trigger a reprisal. In its first response, Iran fired more than 100 drones at Israel. Israel said the drones were being intercepted outside its airspace, and it was not immediately clear whether any got through.

Israeli leaders cast the attack as necessary to head off an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, though it remains unclear how close the country is to achieving that.