A later report says Aldair Ovelar was expelled and handed over to Brazil’s Federal Police. Initial reports had described arrangements for his return as pending.
Ministerio Público
Paraguay’s Ministerio Público is the constitutionally autonomous public prosecution service, commonly referred to as the Fiscalía. Prosecutors direct criminal investigations and represent society before the courts, while the institution also has legally defined duties involving public and social interests. This dossier gathers Pytagua coverage of investigations, charges, dismissals and institutional decisions, with particular care to distinguish an allegation or investigation from a charge, trial or judicial finding.
Operation Aurelia detained four people and is investigating an alleged international gold route that passed through Paraguay, using couriers on commercial flights and jewelry-related businesses as cover; investigators found jewelry, metals and possible chemical precursors at a house in the Manorá neighborhood.
Defense attorney Guillermo Gayoso, who initially publicized an assault account, retracted his statements and attributed former governor Hugo Javier González's claims to delirious states. Meanwhile, the Public Prosecutor's Office maintains its primary hypothesis that injuries resulted from a fall at La Esperanza Industrial Prison, while the Chamber of Deputies requests state protection for the detainee.
The legal team of former Paraguayan governor Hugo Javier González has alleged physical assault in prison and judicial obstruction, while the opposition demands protection for the politician, who is recovering from a traumatic brain injury in hospital.
In Paraguay’s municipal elections on October 4, 2026, the Supreme Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE) will organize and supervise the election, while political parties, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Police will oversee the process, investigate electoral crimes and secure polling places.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office presented more than 2,000 chats involving Sebastián Marset and Miguel Ángel “Tío Rico” Insfrán at the trial in the A Ultranza Py case, while documents released by U.S. prosecutors record contacts between Marset and a DEA agent before his capture in Bolivia.
A Brazilian merchant was held hostage and robbed in María Auxiliadora, Itapúa, and the suspects’ escape in a Toyota Hilux ended in a police chase and shootout recorded by security cameras; 21-year-old Walter Eliezer Vera Aquino was detained, while the second suspect remained at large.
The National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD) destroyed more than 10 tons of marijuana in operations in Capitán Bado and Karapa’i, seizing weapons, more than 100 rounds of ammunition and processing equipment, while official reports differed on seeds, vehicles, the estimated value and the number of detentions.
The Ciudad del Este Trial Court sentenced eight police officers to between seven and 12 years for the double homicide of Alex Ortiz Estigarribia and Gloria Espínola Cáceres, who died after a pursuit of Carlos Cato Cabrera, while two officers were acquitted and Jaime Javier Ramírez Brítez was not tried at this stage.
Hernán Rivas's trial will hear the Public Prosecutor's Office's closing arguments on September 21 and deliver the sentence on September 24, while prosecutors consider investigating possible false testimony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Paraguayan authorities are investigating a possible international human trafficking network for labor exploitation after finding about 200 workers, most of them Brazilian, in call centers at the AURA Paraguay building in Asunción, where more than 40% of the Brazilian workers were reportedly in irregular immigration status.
Three Copaco employees were detained in Mariano Roque Alonso, Paraguay, on suspicion of removing without authorization about 300 meters of underground cable valued at up to G. 35 million; the material was recovered and the case is under investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The trials of former minister Arnaldo Giuzzio, accused of aggravated passive bribery, and former Ciudad del Este mayor Miguel Prieto, accused of alleged breach of trust in the purchase of food baskets, have resumed in Paraguay.
Paraguay’s Public Prosecutor’s Office prioritizes the theory that Hugo Javier González fell after becoming unwell but is keeping open the possibility of an assault while awaiting tests and forensic examinations; his cellmate reaffirmed the account, and the defense ruled out a targeted attack.
Paraguay’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested an oral trial for former judge Carmen Analía Cibils and three other people over the alleged falsification of a judicial notice in Argentina that was used to validate seven promissory notes and allow enforcement proceedings against a woman, although the case still requires a preliminary hearing and there is no final conviction.
Brazilian businessman Luciano Pampado Casquel, also known in Paraguay as Luciano Pereira Castelo, fled after Paraguay’s courts ordered his arrest for extradition to Brazil, where he is wanted for homicide, after he was filmed threatening a truck driver with a pistol in Asunción.
The National Police and ANDE seized 25 cryptocurrency-mining machines from a residence in Ciudad del Este after residents reported intense noise, and the case was referred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
A complaint filed with the Public Prosecutor's Office calls for an investigation into alleged inspectors who demanded payments from restaurants and offered to regularize documents on behalf of the Municipality of Asunción.
Attorney Lalo Gómez (Eulalio Gómez Batista) told El Observador Radio TV that political tentacles directly influence judicial decisions in Coronel Oviedo and the Caaguazú department, causing poor administration of justice, and alleged that Freemasonry exerts even broader influence over courts, lower courts, the Supreme Court of Justice and Paraguay’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, supposedly having already been denounced by Justice Minister Manuel Ramírez Candia when he was superintendent of the local judicial district.
Miguel Ángel Robles Ibarra turned himself in to Paraguay’s National Police to begin serving a 10-year sentence for misappropriating G$5.1 billion from the Central Department Governor’s Office, while his former boss, Hugo Javier, is already imprisoned in the same case.
Former Zanja Pytã mayor Manuel Velázquez Marín was sentenced to five years in prison for possession of dangerous drugs after more than 70 kilograms of marijuana were seized at a rural property in Amambay in 2022.
The National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad) seized 62.6 grams of cocaine base, equivalent to more than 420 doses of crack, and detained a 24-year-old woman during an operation at a residence in Remansito, Villa Hayes, identified as a possible site of small-scale drug dealing.
Paraguay raised its health alert, stepped up inspections against the smuggling of poultry and pork products, and proposed a permanent technical working group after avian influenza was detected in domestic birds in Uruguay.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office charged former National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD) technical intelligence director Mauro Ruiz Díaz and his ex-wife, Andrea Karina Martí, over suspected illicit enrichment and money laundering after they moved G. 2.8 billion with no justified origin, and requested the freezing of accounts and assets; Ruiz Díaz is also under investigation over alleged leaks linked to the A Ultranza PY case, with no conviction having been issued.