ASUNCION: The United States Treasury Department lifted sanctions on Monday against former Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes, who faces corruption allegations.
The 69-year-old former leader governed Paraguay from 2013 until 2018 and remains a significant figure in the country’s political landscape.
Cartes was removed from the sanctions list maintained by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
He expressed gratitude to former US President Donald Trump for what he described as a display of justice.
Writing on social media platform X, the leader of the conservative ruling Colorado Party stated he received the news with humility and satisfaction.
“Today, justice was served,“ he claimed in his post.
A spokeswoman for the US embassy in Paraguay stated the sanctions were no longer compatible with current US foreign and national security policy.
She did not provide specific details regarding the policy change.
The administration of former president Joe Biden had frozen Cartes’s assets in January 2023 over allegations of rampant corruption.
OFAC had previously accused him of bribing lawmakers with payments of up to 50,000 US dollars each to secure their loyalty.
The United States also lifted sanctions on Monday targeting his tobacco company Tabacos USA Inc and three other firms.
Current Paraguayan President Santiago Pena, who also belongs to the Colorado Party, celebrated Washington’s decision on social media.
Pena described the rehabilitation of his political mentor as an event that made him happy.
Cartes’s lawyer Pedro Ovelar expressed hope that his client would soon regain the ability to travel to the United States.
The US government had revoked Cartes’s visa back in 2022.
The Colorado Party has governed Paraguay almost continuously since 1947, including during a lengthy and brutal dictatorship.
The party has maintained power since the restoration of democracy in 1989 but has been consistently marred by corruption allegations. – AFP