Paraguay’s Deputy Minister for Comprehensive Health Care, Saúl Recalde, apologized after being filmed holding doctor Freddy Hernán Cantero by the neck and pinning him against a wall at the Ministry of Health headquarters in Asunción. The confrontation took place on Monday, September 14, 2026, after Cantero posted a message on his WhatsApp status.
Recalde took the text as a direct reference to him. During the argument, he asked whether he was being called a “drug trafficker” because he was from the Department of Amambay and cited expressions such as “narco-politician,” “figurehead deputy minister,” and accusations of negligence and medical malpractice. He also told his colleague: “If you write things about me, you won’t get away with it, partner.”
Cantero, a doctor and adviser to the Extrahospitalary Medical Emergency Service (SEME), a Ministry of Health unit responsible for transporting patients, denied mentioning Recalde by name. “I didn’t name anyone. I don’t know why the deputy minister felt targeted or why he took it personally,” he said. The doctor said he supported periodic investigations of public health-system professionals and described the physical reaction as far beyond what was acceptable.
The episode took place in the ministry’s corridors after a meeting involving the new Health Minister, Isaías Fretes, former minister María Teresa Barán and Labor Minister Mónica Recalde. The meeting concerned the situation of mobilized doctors, and the presence of journalists allowed the moment when the deputy minister pushed Cantero and held him by the neck to be recorded on video.
After the incident, Saúl Recalde said: “I apologize to the entire Paraguayan population for the outburst.” He claimed that Cantero had accumulated accusations against his administration and mentioned an alleged earlier disciplinary proceeding and a transfer for inappropriate behavior—claims that, in the available information, were not accompanied by public documents or an independent statement from the doctor. Recalde also said he had placed his position at the minister’s disposal and that the decision on whether he would remain in office belonged to Health Minister Isaías Fretes.
Recalde has held the position since March 2025. Before that, he headed the Amambay Health Region for four years and was medical director of the Social Security Institute (IPS), Paraguay’s social security and public health institution. He left the regional post after the death of a three-year-old child in Pedro Juan Caballero, attributing his departure to a misunderstanding with then-councilor and current lawmaker Santiago Benítez.