Paraguay’s National Police and Public Prosecutor’s Office are investigating a possible international human trafficking network for labor exploitation following Operation Dignity, carried out at the AURA Paraguay building in Asunción. About 200 people were found working on different floors of the complex, located at the intersection of Aviadores del Chaco and Santa Teresa avenues.
The operation was led by the National Police Department Against Human Trafficking, with the participation of the National Directorate of Migration and the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security. The search warrant was authorized by criminal judge Humberto Otazú, and the investigation is being led by prosecutor María Isabel Arnold.
Most of the workers were reportedly Brazilian citizens, along with some Paraguayans. Authorities checked the employees’ immigration and labor status and indicated that more than 40% of the Brazilians found were reportedly in an irregular situation, according to the assessment presented by Commissioner Humberto Aquino, head of the specialized department.
The operation took place in areas where call-center operations linked to companies such as Energy Market and Marketing Sociedad Anónima were based. Documents, notebooks, USB flash drives, employment records, a digital video recorder and five laptops were seized and are to be examined by the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s forensic laboratory.
The investigation began after a Brazilian citizen submitted a complaint to Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, which was later forwarded to Paraguay’s Public Prosecutor’s Office. Another complaint, described by Commissioner Aquino, was filed by a woman who said she had been recruited through digital platforms for an alleged job opening.
She was reportedly put through a three-month trial period and dismissed without being paid for the services she provided. Authorities are investigating whether this method was used to attract workers from Brazil, keep them in irregular immigration status and then deny or reduce payment on the grounds that they lacked documents.
Advertisements aimed at people aged 20 to 50 living in Brazil are also being examined. The offers promised work in telephone customer service and investment lead generation. Investigators are assessing whether fraud, money laundering and human trafficking occurred, but the existence of these crimes has not yet been judicially confirmed.
Aquino said the workers did not report imprisonment or physical coercion. The hypothesis under investigation is that some of them may have been attracted through deception and exploited because of their vulnerability resulting from a lack of documentation. The investigation is expected to clarify the hiring conditions, payments and any responsibility of the companies involved.