Asunción city hall, under Mayor Luis Bello (ANR-HC), celebrated on Friday a 'deep clean' of the Historic Center after the May 14 and 15 festivities. The operation, carried out by the Urban Services Directorate (DSU), focused on the squares of Heroes, Independence, Democracy and Liberty, as well as Congress, the Cabildo and the Costanera. Official figures say 120,000 people passed through the area during the celebrations.
Outside the central perimeter, the reality is one of neglect. On Mariano Molas street, next to the Recoleta Cemetery, the wall that collapsed on May 5 has been lying on the ground for more than ten days. The rubble, broken bricks and piled-up earth block pedestrian access. The gap was shoddily covered with plywood, and the site has become a dump for dry branches, cardboard boxes and trash bags. Hundreds of people who visited their deceased loved ones on Mother's Day were met with this scene.
In the Bernardino Caballero neighborhood, the situation is even worse. At the corner of General Santos Avenue and Azara, a mini dump takes over the sidewalk and the roadway, with black bags and large boxes forcing pedestrians onto the asphalt in a high-traffic area. A few blocks away, on Herminio Giménez and Rodó, a mountain of household waste — black, white and red bags — remains piled at the base of a tree, right in front of taxpayers' homes.
The lack of efficient collection has created spots where illegal dumping has become a 'tradition'. At the corner of Azara and Acá Verá, in front of a square, pruning waste, shoe boxes, a roll of pressed cardboard and mattresses appeared overnight. Residents try to contain the contamination with 'No dumping' signs, but the clandestine dump grows amid municipal inaction.
The neglect also reaches areas near hospitals, such as the Trauma Hospital, on Herminio Giménez between General Santos and Acá Verá, where a 'linear dump' has been operating for years, sometimes blocking traffic.
The city hall's million-dollar budget contrasts with the collapse of services. In 2025, the administrations of Óscar 'Nenecho' Rodríguez and Luis Bello collected US$ 35.5 million exclusively for urban cleaning. Despite this, on the most critical days, the DSU operated with only 10 of its 28 own collection trucks. Bello recently stated that they now have 20 operational vehicles. To cover the shortfall, the city hall resorts to expensive rentals of trucks from private companies, while the municipal fleet sits idle.
Faced with the collapse, Bello tried to fast-track the direct purchase of 11 collection trucks for nearly G. 16 billion, claiming 'unpostponable urgency'. The operation, carried out by exception and without going through the City Council, was suspended by the National Directorate of Public Procurement (Resolution No. 1012/26), after a protest from companies in the sector against the tender.
Despite the insufficient operation, the Bello administration is betting on punishing the public, with the 'Zero Waste' bill, which provides for prison for anyone who discards ordinary waste on public roads.