The United States announced on Friday July 22 that it was banning former Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes from entering its territory, accusing the businessman-turned-politician of corruption and links to “terrorist” groups. .
Horacio Cartes, a fortune in the tobacco industry who ruled Paraguay from 2013 to 2018, will no longer be able to travel to the United States. The decision also applies to his three adult children. According to the US State Department, the former president “obstructed a major international investigation into transnational crime», a reference to a money laundering scandal for which Brazil requested his extradition.
“These acts have undermined the stability of democratic institutions in Paraguay by contributing to the public’s perception of corruption and impunity within the office of the Paraguayan president.“said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a press release, also referring to the involvement of Horacio Cartes “with foreign terrorist organizations“.
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The US official did not give further details but Paraguay’s Vice President Hugo Velazquez accused Horacio Cartes of being linked to Lebanese Hezbollah, which allegedly profited from the smuggling of counterfeit cigarettes through Paraguay and its border with Argentina and Brazil.
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