Amnesty International has called on the Paraguayan government to better regulate weapons, saying that there are a million weapons in civilian hands in the country and only a third are registered.
A recent spate of attacks by Paraguay's EPP guerrilla group, in which they demanded that businesses hand out aid to local communities, suggests the rebels are increasing their operations in an effort to win the support of the population.
Paraguay destroyed 242 tons of marijuana seized during a 10-day operation, a reminder that the country is a major supplier of the plant to other consumers in South America, especially Brazil.
In spite of a security surge by the Paraguayan military, the country’s elusive rebel army is rapidly gaining momentum, having dramatically stepped up its operations last year.
A former police chief in Paraguay is accused of trafficking after being captured moving cocaine, an arrest which highlights the vulnerability to corruption among security forces and the country's growing role in regional organized crime.
According to sources claiming contact with the leaders of Paraguay's phantom rebel army, the group is planning to withdraw from the Southern Cone and find refuge in Colombia and Venezuela. It is not the first allegation concerning links between Paraguay and these two countries.
The Paraguayan government’s 60-day “state of exception” made for big headlines but little headway against the tiny guerrilla organization active in the north of the country, the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP), demonstrating an alarming level of state weakness.
An Argentine man, arrested in Paraguay for allegedly running an international sex trafficking ring, is also suspected of involvement in a drug smuggling network that supplied cocaine to Europe.
The Brazilian Ministry of Defense has deployed 6,500 troops along its border with Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru in a huge operation aimed at combating drug trafficking and organized crime.
Ten "narco-planes" used to smuggle drugs between Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay have been found so far this year, suggesting that despite efforts by the three countries to monitor their borders, air trafficking routes remain well-used.
