Hello, and welcome to the Latin America Weekly newsletter! In this issue: major drug operations in Paraguay rock some of the country’s leading politicians. Argentina cuts off grain and beef exports. The left storms to victory in Colombia’s congressional elections.
Politics in Paraguay hit by DEA- and Europol-led drug probe
The past few months in Paraguayan politics have been dominated by drug scandals, crowned by a giant operation orchestrated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other international agencies that led to nearly 100 raids across the country and the arrest of politicians, businessmen, and religious leaders.
The case. Known as A Ultranza Paraguay, the operation has been described as the largest in the country’s history, following 27 months of inquiry by Europol, the DEA, Paraguay’s Anti-Drug Secretariat and Attorney General’s Office, and the Uruguayan Interior Ministry.
- It included an 11-ton cocaine seizure in Amsterdam and further local drug busts, with dozens of charges and arrest orders already issued, as well as hundreds of property seizures tied to laundering of the proceeds.
Why it matters. Large-scale criminal investigations backed by the U.S. have led to political instability across Latin America. The effects of the Odebrecht case in Brazil...