Paraguay's Chamber of Deputies is analyzing a bill that aims to eliminate the 10,000 guaranis charge applied to each transaction related to the issuance of driver's licenses, a fee collected by the Paraguayan Organization for Intermunicipal Cooperation (Opaci). The proposal, which has already received a favorable opinion from the Legislation Committee, modifies articles of the National Traffic and Road Safety Law to remove the private entity from the process.
However, there are signs that the governing bloc, aligned with cartismo (a movement led by former president Horacio Cartes), may block the approval of the matter. Lawmakers from the officialist bloc have informally indicated they will seek to postpone the vote, arguing the impossibility of debating the issue internally due to party commitments, not ruling out shelving the initiative.
The bill is driven by opposition deputies and dissidents from the Colorado Party, such as Daniel Centurión. They argue that Opaci, a non-governmental organization, operates as a "parallel cash box" and is used for political patronage practices, managing a system that generated millions in revenue without being part of the state structure. According to the bill's text, the fee linked to driver's licenses alone earned Opaci 138.385 billion guaranis in the last five years.
The proposal also stipulates that the National Traffic and Road Safety Agency (ANTSV) take over the administration of the driver database and the computer system for license issuance. However, representatives of ANTSV itself have expressed reservations about assuming this responsibility, defending the continuity of the current scheme.
Another point of criticism is that the future implementation of the driver scoring system, with licenses containing QR codes, will continue to depend on a database managed by Opaci if the legal change does not proceed. The bill's proponents maintain that this sensitive information should be under the exclusive control of the state. Deputy Daniel Centurión also questioned Opaci's efficiency, stating that the entity includes only 215 of the country's 263 municipalities, which would evidence limitations in its operations.