Increase in Narco-Politics Denounced in Paraguay
The seizure of 300 kilograms of cocaine, a light aircraft and a motorboat at a farm belonging to a retired army general who is supporting presidential candidate Horacio Cartes, has revived accusations against that politician.The accusations came from Rafael Filizzola, candidate for Vice President of the Republic in the upcoming elections, on the Liberal Radical Authentic Party ticket. Filizzola asserted that narco-politics (politicians connected to drug trafficking) are becoming more and more prevalent throughout the country.The police action at the farm of General Carlos Maggui, whose son is hoping to become a legislator for the Colorado party which nominated Cartes as its presidential candidate, was just one of the drug-related seizures Filizzola mentioned, at farms belonging to Cartes.In the operation, four people were arrested and four others managed to escape. One of them was injured after a shooting against police agents, according to the official report.In his statements, Filizzola said that it was hard to believe in coincidences in a country where narco-politics are becoming an increasingly troubling problem.Luis Rojas, chief of operations of the Paraguayan National Anti-Drug Secretariat, revealed that they managed to intercept the light aircraft on a portion of Maggui's property, when there was a shooting against the drug dealers.According to information gathered by the secretariat, the drugs were meant to be unloaded at a secret runway so that they could be transported by motorboat along the river Aguaray up to a specific point from where they would continue by land until reaching Ciudad de Pedro Juan Caballero.Filizzola said it was a strategic place for air and river drug traffic and by making such open accusations, he joins a number of different political parties in their claims against Cartes, a wealthy businessman that hopes to become the nation's president.