Paraguay concluded three days of anti-drug operations with separate actions in the north and in Central Department. In Operation New Alliance 56, coordinated by the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD) and Brazil’s Federal Police, agents dismantled 22 camps in Amambay, seized 9,620 kilograms of pressed marijuana and eradicated 50 hectares of crops. SENAD estimated that the fields could have produced 150,000 kilograms. The impact of nearly 160 tons therefore combines drugs actually seized with potential production prevented; it does not mean that 160 tons were physically confiscated.
In a separate operation in San Carlos del Apa, Concepción Department, agents destroyed camps, burned 410 kilograms of processed marijuana and eradicated two hectares of plants ready for harvest. The reviewed reports differ between 16 and 17 camps in that operation; together with the 22 in Amambay, the reported total is between 38 and 39. Authorities said the occupants fled before the teams arrived. For New Alliance 56, SENAD estimated losses of $4.7 million in Paraguay and more than $23 million if the production had reached the Brazilian market.
In Ypané, Central Department, another SENAD intervention seized 1.357 kilograms of marijuana — one kilogram and 357 grams — in the San Pedro neighborhood, an amount authorities estimated at about 135 doses. Héctor Fabián Enciso González, Rodolfo Ismael Benítez Vega and Esteban Daniel D’Apollo Villalba were arrested. Agents also collected mobile phones, cash and a digital scale.
In a separate judicial development, a court in Luque granted former Paraguay international footballer Julio César Manzur house arrest with electronic monitoring. The measure can take effect only after bail exceeding 3.6 billion guaranis is posted and the monitor is activated. Manzur is being prosecuted after 6.55 kilograms of crack cocaine were seized in 2025. Prosecutor Andrea Ríos opposed the decision, citing flight risk and the proximity of the trial, scheduled for September 8.