Prosecutors Aldo Cantero and Giovanni Grisetti They accused former Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez of and several officials in his government for alleged Leaks of confidential documents What are you doing Reference to former President Horacio Cartes. His lawyer, Pedro Ovelar, The announcement that Paraguayan media and journalists were working to orchestrate this operation caused controversy.
According to Paraguayan media Abdo asked officials to prepare and filter the intelligence report for election purposes and in February 2022, an intelligence reporting project began with reports on suspicious operations by Cartes.
According to lawyer Pedro Ovelar, the case also targets journalists and the media in the alleged slander campaign against the former president.
“This happened in Paraguay, powerful media were involved, journalists were involved, they met all the time, but they know who they are and what they did and probably they will be held responsible and accountable in the investigation.“, he emphasized.
Ovelar was asked to name names of communications professionals but avoided doing so.
“Officials are obliged to maintain secrecy and secrecy. Constitutional sources that say there is no obligation to disclose sources“, the lawyer clarified.
But it is one thing to have a source and another is to be part of the group that generates the information and that the security agencies such as Seprelad (Secretariat for the Prevention of Money or Asset Laundering) receive feedback from it because you look at the report against Horacio Cartes and 90% refer to Última Hora and ABC (two of the most important press media in Paraguay).
This pressure on press workers triggered an immediate response from journalists, who mobilized in front of the Attorney General’s Office demanding the free exercise of journalism and freedom of expression.