Development: On 15 July Paraguay’s President-elect Mario Abdo Benítez instructed his government transition team to expedite all the investigations into government corruption allegations and present formal accusations to the public ministry where necessary.
Significance: Abdo Benítez’s call to his future cabinet ministers is in line with one of his main electoral pledges: to combat government corruption. It suggests that Abdo Benítez is determined to honour his pledge. However, given that Abdo Benítez is due to take over on 15 August from fellow Asociación Nacional Republicana-Partido Colorado (ANR-PC) party member Horacio Cartes, the investigations could produce uncomfortable revelations for the ANR-PC and potentially create governability problems for the incoming administration.
- The ANR-PC united behind Abdo Benítez’s electoral bid to retain the presidency and its simple majority in congress in the April general election. But under the Cartes administration the party became deeply divided between Cartes’ supporters and detractors (anti-Cartistas), who succeed in nominating Abdo Benítez as the party’s presidential candidate. These divisions remain under the surface and as Abdo Benítez prepares to take office, tensions between the two sides are resurfacing.
- Many of these tensions revolve around the numerous corruption allegations that have affected the Cartes government and Cartista political leaders. Some of these cases are under investigation. But on 15 July Abdo Benítez said after meeting with his government transition team that he had instructed his future ministers to expedite all investigations into irregularities in their future portfolios ahead of his inauguration. In particular, Abdo Benítez said that he had asked the future public works & communications ministry (MOPC) to “uncover” any acts of corruption in the portfolio.
- The future MOPC head, Arnoldo Wiens, has already said that he will review all state contracts signed by the ministry including those linked to the major Metrobús urban transport project and to the expansion of two new roads. On 15 July Wiens said that he would also carefully revise the contract awarded to a consortium led by Brazilian construction firm Queiroz-Galvão for the construction of the tranche of the ‘biocenic corridor’ regional highway (which would link Brazilian and Chilean ports) that will pass through Paraguay.
- Meanwhile the local press has recently reported on a number of irregularities in contracts awarded by the national civil aviation directorate (Dinac). According to the local press reports, some US$36m in Dinac contracts have been irregularly awarded to firms that have links to Gerónimo Viveros Osnaghi, cousin to President Cartes.
Looking Ahead: Queiroz-Galvão is implicated in the major regional corruption scandal centred round Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht, which suggests that the firm is also implicated in wrongdoing in Paraguay, and that the investigations could reveal widespread corrupt practices in the Cartes administration.