Paraguay launches corruption probe of former president

By DANIEL POLITI
Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Paraguay’s attorney general has launched a criminal investigation into U.S. allegations that a former Paraguayan president and the current vice president were involved in corruption and had ties to terrorists. Paraguay’s Attorney General Emiliano Rolón Fernández announced that a team would look into the U.S. allegations that former President Horacio Cartes and Vice President Hugo Velázquez engaged “in systemic corruption that has undermined democratic institutions in Paraguay.” Cartes and Velázquez have previously denied the allegations. The U.S. government, meanwhile, added three people to a list of Paraguayan officials it suspects of “significant corruption” and who would be barred from entry into the U.S. That list, started in 2019, now numbers nine officials.