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.



Lebanese Army Blames Israel for Delay in Deploying Troops in Southern Lebanon

Smoke rises from the site of controlled explosions during demolition activities undertaken by the Israeli army in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of controlled explosions during demolition activities undertaken by the Israeli army in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
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Lebanese Army Blames Israel for Delay in Deploying Troops in Southern Lebanon

Smoke rises from the site of controlled explosions during demolition activities undertaken by the Israeli army in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of controlled explosions during demolition activities undertaken by the Israeli army in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila on January 24, 2025. (AFP)

Lebanon's army accused Israel of procrastinating in withdrawing troops from south Lebanon as required under a ceasefire that ended the war with Hezbollah, a day after Israel said its forces would remain beyond a Sunday deadline for their departure.

The Lebanese army, in a statement issued on Saturday, also urged Lebanese residents to wait before heading into the border region, citing the presence of mines and unexploded Israeli ordnance.

Under the US-brokered agreement, which took effect on Nov. 27, Hezbollah weapons and fighters must be removed from areas south of the Litani River and Israeli troops should withdraw as the Lebanese military deploys into the region, all within a 60-day time frame, meaning by Sunday at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT).

Israel's military confirmed on Saturday that it won't complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by Sunday.

In a statement, it said the agreement is progressing but in some sectors, “it has been delayed and will take slightly longer.”

It added that the withdrawal process will continue “in the near future,” but said that displaced residents from towns in southern Lebanon should not return.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday the terms had not been fully enforced by the Lebanese state. The White House said a short, temporary ceasefire extension was urgently needed.

The US-backed Lebanese army said it had continued to implement the plan to strengthen its deployment south of the Litani River since the ceasefire came into effect.

"Delays occurred in a number of the phases as a result of procrastination in the withdrawal by the Israeli enemy, which complicated the mission of the army's deployment," the statement said. The army "maintains its readiness to complete its deployment as soon as the Israeli enemy withdraws", it added.

The ceasefire ended more than a year of hostilities which were triggered by the Gaza war and peaked in a major Israeli offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon.

The Israeli government has not said how much longer its forces might remain in south Lebanon, where the Israeli military says it has been seizing Hezbollah weapons and dismantling infrastructure used by the armed group.

Hezbollah, which suffered major blows in the war, said on Thursday that any delay of Israel's withdrawal would be an unacceptable breach of the deal and put the onus on the Lebanese state to act. Hezbollah said the state would have to deal with such a violation "through all means and methods guaranteed by international charters".

Israel said its campaign against Hezbollah aimed to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people forced by Hezbollah rocket fire to leave their homes in northern Israel.