Alfredo Benítez remains director of Administrative Management at the National Directorate of Paraguayan Postal Services (DINACOPA), the state agency responsible for the country’s postal service, while awaiting a hearing on the conditional suspension of proceedings in the case known as the “promissory-note mafia.” The session is scheduled for Wednesday, August 26, before guarantee judge Rodrigo Estigarribia.
A former process server at the Peace Court of La Encarnación, Benítez is accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of falsifying notices in 19 enforcement proceedings. In his testimony, he acknowledged taking part in a scheme that pursued debt-collection lawsuits without the victims’ knowledge. He also voluntarily handed over his cellphone, which allegedly contained messages exchanged with then-judge Analía Cibils.
The conditional suspension was requested by prosecutors Belinda Bobadilla, Jorge Arce and Leonardi Guerrero and endorsed by the Deputy Attorney General’s Office through Gilda Villalba. Benítez withdrew the motions he had filed against the specialized court for economic and anticorruption crimes, allowing the hearing to move forward. If the request is granted, he will avoid an oral trial but will have to comply with judicial conditions, including G. 100 million in restitution. The measure does not amount to an acquittal.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office considers the testimony relevant to clarifying how the scheme operated within the court and to the investigation involving Cibils. In a statement cited in the case, Benítez said the judge would receive 35% of the money collected and described control mechanisms and preferential treatment for certain lawyers. The accusations remain subject to judicial proceedings.
Benítez joined DINACOPA in November 2023 after leaving the court and briefly working at the National Directorate of Civil Aeronautics. He first headed the Transparency and Anticorruption Directorate and later took over Administrative Management. The personnel payroll classifies him as holding a “position of trust.”
DINACOPA Director General Nidia Rosa López de González was also prosecuted in the “golden detergents” case, related to purchases by the Municipality of Asunción. She received a conditional suspension after being charged with breach of trust and criminal association, with an obligation to return G. 200 million to the municipality and pay G. 15 million for the festivities of the Virgin of Caacupé.
López is described as a member of the political team of Raúl Latorre, president of the Chamber of Deputies, and Benítez is linked to the Colorado Party (ANR). The continued presence of both in senior positions has raised questions about appointment criteria and internal controls at a public institution, while the courts examine accusations connected to different corruption and fraud cases.