Paraguay asks the US to accelerate the departure of its country's ambassador

Published at: 09/08/2024 08:19 AM

Paraguay asked to accelerate the departure of the United States (US) ambassador in Asunción, Marc Ostfield, despite being allies, after the announcement of Treasury sanctions against a tobacco company owned by former Guaraní president Horacio Cartes, according to DW.

“We welcome with displeasure the mediatization and politicization of administrative sanctions (against Tabacalera del Este). That is why we are asking the American Government to accelerate the process of leaving the ambassador (Ostfield) and thus prevent the loss of trust in a person from damaging the relationship we have historically maintained,” details a statement released by the Paraguayan Executive.

Ostfield said last Thursday that the new sanction responds because the company provided financial support to former Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), also sanctioned for alleged corruption, this corresponds to a measure to prevent its financial system from being used to facilitate corruption.

After a meeting of more than an hour with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, Rubén Ramírez, at the foreign ministry of Asunción, the U.S. ambassador stated: “Our actions on Tuesday are to protect our financial system and prevent our financial system from being used to facilitate corruption.”

Ramírez summoned the ambassador after it became known that the Office of Foreign Assets Control updated sanctions against the Paraguayan company Tabacalera del Este in July 2022.

Mazo News Team