On the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the minister of Paraguay's National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD), Jalil Rachid, presented the current administration's statistical report with results the Paraguayan government described as historic in the fight against drug trafficking.
Rachid said that since August 2023 the strategy has combined prevention, treatment, intelligence, international cooperation and operations against criminal structures. Among the main results, he said Paraguay is no longer identified as a critical route for international cocaine trafficking and that, since the start of the current administration, there have been no records of cocaine seizures in Europe linked to shipments from Paraguayan ports.
According to the figures presented, authorities seized more than 6,500 kilograms of cocaine and destroyed more than 22 million kilograms of marijuana at clandestine production centers. Operations against retail drug dealing removed 1.8 million doses of narcotics from circulation. The financial damage caused to criminal organizations is estimated at more than $700 million.
The government also cited stronger controls at ports, borders and airport terminals through new technology, specialized personnel and greater interagency coordination, as well as progress on the SUMAR plan and the First National Survey on Drug Use in the General Population, which now covers all 17 departments of the country.
A UN report released the same day and reported by Ultima Hora presents a different picture of trafficking in the country. According to the report, cocaine trafficking through Paraguay rose from 126 kilograms in 2019 to 5,900 kilograms in 2024. The document also says the volume of marijuana trafficked rose from 1,020,122.53 kilograms in 2018 to 1,045,865.72 kilograms in 2024, and warns that traffickers are using technology and global instability to expand routes and markets.
UNODC executive director Monica Juma said the world is seeing an unprecedented increase in new types of drugs on the market, some more potent and dangerous, with serious consequences in premature deaths and economic impact.
In another Ultima Hora report, Copolad III director Borja Diaz Rivillas said during a visit to Paraguay that drug policy should be addressed mainly through science and public health, not only through enforcement. The cooperation program between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean works with 32 countries and supports institutional reforms, exchanges of experience and information systems.
Diaz Rivillas said the program rests on four pillars: generating scientific evidence, reducing demand with a focus on problematic use, reducing supply in the fight against drug trafficking, and strengthening information systems. In Paraguay, the work includes support for the National Drug Observatory, linked to SENAD, and the Early Warning System, which brings together data from prosecutors, police, customs, educational institutions and communities to identify emerging risks.
The director said marijuana is the leading illicit-drug problem in the country, followed by cocaine and growing concern about crack. He also said Paraguay leads marijuana production in South America, with significant environmental impacts, and serves as a transit country for cocaine coming mainly from Bolivia.
In judicial cooperation, Copolad is working on a pilot plan in Ciudad del Este, Alto Parana, with the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors. The initiative targets the overlap between drug trafficking and human trafficking, especially cases of women used as couriers, and seeks protocols so prosecutors specialized in human trafficking and narcotics can work together without revictimizing women coerced by criminal networks.