In a dispatch, issued by the Presidency, the Government stated that “direct or indirect meddling” of other nations in internal affairs, compromises their country’s independence and sovereignty.

In the morning, the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Ostfield, following the White House’s new sanctions against a domestic tobacco company linked to former President Horacio Cartes (2013-2018).

Ostfield noted that his country’s actions aim to protect the financial system and prevent it from being used to facilitate corruption.

On Tuesday the United States imposed new sanctions on the Paraguayan Tabacalera del Este Company, known as Tabesa, for providing financial support to former President Cartes.

The sanctions stipulate that all properties and interests the company might have in the United States, possession or control of U.S. citizens are frozen, and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

The Government expressed in a statement that it makes no value judgment on the use of administrative tools that fall under U.S. legislation.

The Paraguayan Administration emphasized: “However, we do have a position regarding how these administrative measures were communicated by the current U.S. ambassador in Paraguay,” . Although since the beginning of the current Government “trust was built (…) we receive with discomfort the meddling and politicization of the administrative sanctions.”

“Therefore, we are requesting the U.S. Government to accelerate the process of the ambassador’s departure, and thus avoid that the loss of trust towards a person damages the relations we have historically maintained,” the statement remarked.

In March 2024, OFAC identified Tabacalera as an entity in which Cartes owned, directly or indirectly, a 50% or greater stake.

In 2022, the U.S. Government labeled Cartes and then Vice President Hugo Velazquez as significantly corrupt.

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