After the political trial that dismissed Fernando Lugo in June 2012, the liberal Federico Franco assumed the presidency on June 22 and in little more than a year the ministers and directors he appointed were prosecuted for serious acts of corruption. Today two of them, the former Ministers of Agriculture Enzo Cardozo and Rody Godoy, were convicted and sent to prison.
Federico Franco, upon assuming the presidency, appointed his co-religionists in key Ministries, where they practically “plundered” the state coffers. In little more than a year they took their pockets with money and also accumulated criminal proceedings, some continue to this day and others ended in convictions.
Ruben Dario Quesnel
The great “spoils of war” of the liberals was the Paraguayan Institute of the Indigenous (INDI) where Rubén Darío Quesnel was appointed, who in less than a year irregularly sold 25 thousand hectares of indigenous lands located in the city of Mariscal Estigarribia, department of Boquerón, which was the seat of 19 families of the Ayoreo partiality, For this case, the former director was sentenced to six years in prison in 2015
Another open process against Quesnel was the diversion of G. 3,127 million that was given to the INDI for the purchase of land for the Yakye Axa and Sawhoyamaxa indigenous communities in the Chaco, but the money was never used for that, it actually disappeared in its entirety, however in a video from the National Development Bank ( BNF) it was seen how Rubén Quesnel himself went to withdraw the money at the window. In this process, Quesnel was sentenced to 10 years in prison. in August 2018, together with his former administrator Marlene Mendoza, sentenced to six years in prison and three other officials. Rubén Darío Quesnel is currently still in prison.
Read also: The Court confirms a 10-year sentence for the former head of the Indi
Luis Ortigoza
Another minister of Federico Franco who in a short time accumulated legal proceedings were Luis Ortigoza, who was in charge of the National Institute for Rural and Land Development (Indert) from June 29, 2012 to April 14, 2013but in those 10 months it caused millions in property damage to the State and four criminal proceedings were filed against him.
The first for the purchase of 5,000 hectares of land in the department of Cordillera from the firm San Agustín for G. 48,000 billion, the scandal also affected former senator Jorge Oviedo Matto. and the former liberal deputy Milcidades Duré.
The second process against Ortigoza was for the irregular sale of 52,000 hectares of land in Alto Paraguay which resulted in an embezzlement to the State of G. 1.5.381.715.000.
The third process was for the irregular sale of land from the Mbaracayú Reserve generating a loss of G. 40,000 billion.
The fourth trial and perhaps the most absurd of all was that Luis Ortigoza awarded him 10 hectares of land in Capitán Bado. to an Arab citizen named Ali Hetem, by G. 5,119,323, but it turned out that the Capitán Bado airport was located on those lands. The former president of Indert literally sold the city’s airport. Until last year, Ortigoza continued to crack down on his processes, he was a fugitive for almost eight years and in all cases the other defendants have already been convicted.
Complacent justice always helped Ortigoza not to face his causes.
Enzo Cardozo and Rody Godoy
Finally, the processes open against the former ministers are reached Enzo Cardozo and Rody Godoy, who were in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the second replaced the first in a period of 11 months.
Two processes were opened for both, the first was for a diversion of G. 68,000 billion that should go to the National Federation of Fruit and Vegetable Producers of Paraguay (Fenaprofhp)but the money disappeared, thanks to the Chicanas, for almost ten years the case did not advance, the Supreme Court of Justice “boxed” the file for years, until today both former ministers were finally convicted.
Cardozo to 10 years, Godoy to seven years and the former administrator of both Maristela Azuaga to 10 yearsthe Sentencing Court revoked their alternative measures to imprisonment and ordered their transfer to the Tacumbú prison and to the Buen Pastor the woman.
Apart from this Cardozo, Godoy and Azuaga case, they have another process that they have also been chicaning to avoid going to trial and it is for the diversion of G. 3,700 billion that had to be distributed through the projects of the National Livestock Development Program (Pronafope). The money never arrived and those directly responsible are these three people.
Enzo Cardozo and Rody Godoy became millionaires with state money.
Enrique Salyn Buzarquis
Another prosecuted Franco minister was the liberal Efrainista Enrique Salyn Buzarquis, who was head of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), who signed a contract with an Italian company to carry out soil sample work in the department of Ñeembucú that was never done, but the money was paid. For this he was prosecuted for breach of trust and usurpation of functions, since in his capacity as minister he was not authorized to sign contracts on behalf of the State.
Enrique Salyn Buzarquis with Chicanas managed to avoid a trial against him.
But Buzarquis, showed a “surgical ability” to present chicanas and manage to stretch the procedural deadlines to the point of prescribing the process against him. Thanks to complicit justice, a hand was also given to the liberal politician who did not go to trial and thus was never able to recover the US$ 600,000 that was paid for a job to a foreign company.
Despite the fact that all these ministers were appointed by Federico Franco, the former president was never prosecuted and “retired” as a politician, he no longer appeared at public events and today he exploits his role as a “journalist” on a television channel.
