Paraguay’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has charged five people and sought pretrial detention for four current or former members of the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD) as an investigation advances into alleged leaks of anti-drug operations linked to former lawmaker Eulalio “Lalo” Gomes. The measure also applies to Helga Lizany Concepción Solís Gómez, the politician’s niece, who is a fugitive.
The people under investigation include Hugo Derlis Baptista Báez, former director general of anti-drug operations; Cristian Porfirio Amarilla Cabaña, former intelligence director; Col. Aldo Osmar Pintos Martínez, former commander of the Special Forces; and Alicia Marlene Vázquez Samaniego, an intelligence agent. The National Police carried out investigative procedures in Pedro Juan Caballero, including at the home of Solís Gómez’s family, under the coordination of prosecutor Ingrid Cubilla.
The charges include, according to the investigation, criminal association, frustrating criminal prosecution and the enforcement of criminal penalties, influence peddling, illegal possession and illicit trafficking of weapons, and drug trafficking. The accusations will still be examined in court, and the people under investigation are presumed innocent until a final decision.
The case emerged from an analysis of messages extracted from Gomes’s phone. He died during a police operation in August 2024. The Public Prosecutor’s Office’s theory is that confidential information about anti-drug operations was passed on to benefit people connected to the former lawmaker’s family structure and hinder efforts to make arrests.
One of the episodes under investigation took place on December 8, 2023, when Brazilian national Ronaldo Mendes Nunes allegedly escaped an operation at the Gomes family’s property. The investigation is examining whether SENAD members provided advance information and later helped remove Eulalio Gomes’s name from the episode. Communications concerning procedures related to Alexandre Rodrigues Gomes, the former lawmaker’s son, are also being analyzed. He is under investigation for drug trafficking, money laundering and criminal association.
Helga Lizany Solís Gómez is identified as a possible link between the family and members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and SENAD. According to the charges reproduced by Paraguayan media outlets, she allegedly used former duties as a prosecutorial assistant to access case information, influence proceedings and pass on information. These allegations are part of the prosecution’s theory and still require proof in court.
On the same day, SENAD arrested a man in Ciudad del Este suspected of transporting 4.255 kilograms of cocaine in a Toyota Grand Hiace. The drug, divided into four packages, was allegedly bound for the Brazilian market and was valued at about US$60,000. The detainee was placed at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office under the supervision of prosecutor Manuel Rojas.
At the same time, the government is facing questions about the transfer of SENAD’s telephone-interception system to the Ministry of the Interior. Minister of Information and Communication Technologies Gustavo Villate said the change concerns the physical hosting of the mediation system, which routes signals, rather than direct access to audio. Internal documents cited in coverage of the case indicate that the investment of approximately US$12 million, made in 2025, had been planned to ensure SENAD’s technological independence on 2G, 3G, 4G, VoLTE and 5G networks.