Paraguay: Platform for Hemispheric Hegemony

Raúl Zibechi
August 18
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United States military presence

The Paraguayan Congress approved law 2594 on May 5, 2005, at the request of the U.S. ambassador, allowing U.S. troops to install themselves and enjoy the same immunity that American diplomats have. The text of the law states that “we equally grant importation and exportation, as well as exemption from inspection and local taxes for products,” and that the Paraguayan and American governments “reciprocally renounce any claim either party could have against the other for personal damage or death of its civilian or military personnel.” 18 The final agreement foresees the development of 13 joint missions between July 1, 2005 and December 31, 2006. The objective is to train the Paraguayan military for anti-terrorism and narco-traffic, as it is assumed that the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC) could be active in Paraguay through the group Patria Libre (Free Country), and that drug trafficking activities exist.

SouthCom landed 400 marines in Paraguay on July 1. 19 A few days later the Paraguayan press reported that the FBI would be installing itself as well, as soon as 2007. 20 In July the first military exercises began, consisting of instructing Paraguayan military members in anti-terrorism and anti-drug tactics. Near the end of July the first medical operations began (known as Medrete, Medical Readiness Education and Training Exercises), led by U.S. troops. The ambassador in Asunción, John F. Keane, denies that his country plans to establish a military base in Paraguay. July 27, while 46 U.S. troops were undertaking a medical operation near the Brazilian border, the army mobilized 300 parachutists that simulated the takeover of the Itaipú dam in a “lightening” operation, considered by the press to be “a suggestive demonstration of force” that they qualified as “without precedent.” 21 August 17, Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Asunción and met with the Paraguayan government, assuring that it is a “serious government that supports democracy,” but also expressed concern about “regional instability.” 22 The previous day, the subsecretary of the Treasury for the fight against financing of terrorism, Daniel Glaser, assured that “there is terrorism being financed at the Tri-Border.” 23

The permanent U.S. military presence in Paraguay consists of small groups of around 50 troops that stay for a period of weeks or months, and are then replaced. The Mariscal Estigarribia military airport, built in the 80s with help from the United States, is not currently a military base. The landing strip is 3,800 meters long and 70 meters wide, the biggest in the country, and is prepared to receive large aircraft such as Galaxy and B-52s. In the area, the heart of the unpopulated Chaco, reside about 2,000 people, of whom 300 belong to the Third Corps of the Paraguayan military. Regardless, the base could become operative at any time. It's close to the Argentine provinces of Salta and Formosa and barely 250 kilometers from Bolivia's hydrocarbon deposits.

However, all indicates that the United States seeks to position itself at the tri-country border. Many diplomats have mentioned in the last decade that it is a “dangerous” place. In October of 2005, the director of the FBI, Robert Muller, confirmed in Asunción that the tri-border is a location of “fundraising that in some circumstances could be used to finance terrorist activities in different parts of the world.” 24 In June of 2006 General John Craddock, head of SouthCom, made an inspection visit to the tri-border. Finally, June 12 the House of Representatives of the United States approved, at the insistence of the Republican representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the presentation to the Organization of American States of a plan for “the formation of an anti-terrorist force to control the region” of the tri-border, that includes the cities Foz de Iguazú (Brazil), Puerto Iguazú (Argentina), and Ciudad del Este (Paraguay). 25 Although the proposal does not have the approval of the Senate, in the proposal it mentions that nearly 30,000 Lebanese live in the tri-border area and they could raise funds for Hamas and Hezbollah.
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