An open microphone during the official broadcast of a joint session of Paraguay's Congress captured a private conversation between the President of the Senate, Basilio "Bachi" Núñez, and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Raúl Latorre, both from the ruling Cartista movement. The dialogue, which occurred moments before the arrival of President Santiago Peña for his annual management report, focused on the independent opposition deputy Raúl Benítez.
In the recording, Bachi asks: "What does Raúl Benítez say?". Latorre replies: "That's a good question. You always have to keep an eye on that one, he's capable of anything, he wants to follow his leader's path to martyrdom". The reference is to former senator Kattya González, who lost her mandate in a process driven by the ruling party and later validated by the Supreme Court of Justice.
Deputy Benítez, who attended the session wearing a t-shirt with an image of a polygraph to protest what he called the report's "political show," reacted to the statements. He stated that the conversation reveals "mafia codes" and a "trivialization of the destruction of the Republic." Benítez emphasized that the dialogue took place in the presence of the President of the Supreme Court, Alberto Martínez Simón, which, to him, demonstrates a "composition between various powers of the State" to persecute dissenting voices.
"If the death certificate is already written, if it already has a date, at least let me know. Then, we'll prepare a huge farewell," declared Benítez, joking about a possible attempt to expel him.
On the ruling party side, Senator Natalicio Chase, leader of the Honor Colorado bloc in the Senate, downplayed the episode. He denied the existence of any list of "expellable" legislators in Congress and classified the conversation as "an anecdote," stating it was merely an informal political comment between two people.