On December 13, Abdo Benítez and Jair Bolsonaro were supposed to meet in Mato Grosso do Sul. However, due to climatic factors, the president of Brazil could not attend the appointment. The reunion was left without a specific date.
According to authorities from the binational Itaipu on the Paraguayan side, in this meeting the cost of the energy export tariff for 2022 had to be defined, so now it remains in a nebula, how that cost will be defined.
Cecilia Vuyk, political scientist and energy expert, affirmed that the tariff issue is the tip of the iceberg of what is at stake in 2023. She regretted that the government continues to advance in a fait accompli policy aimed at benefiting large foreign companies Friends of power with the private sale of energy from Itaipu.
“The issue of the rate is being used as a distraction by the government as they move under the table,” he questioned.
The interviewee regretted that the Government has the strategy of trying to confuse the public with meetings and statements without incidence, while the events progress.
“We have to put the magnifying glass on the central issues that the government seeks to avoid; First is the sale of our Paraguayan energy from the public sector; the second is the cessation of payment of the corrupt debt, return of what was stolen and punishment of the corrupt ”, he said.
The other central themes referred to by the analyst are; the sovereign management of Itaipu from the Paraguayan State, including the incorporation of the Paraguayan side budget to the PGN. The fourth is the recovery of the national territory, end of the condominium, for national defense and finally, the restitution of the lands to the evicted communities.
CANESE
Mercedes Canese, former deputy minister of mines and energy, recalled that in the months of September and October of each year the Itaipu budget is usually defined. As part of it, you will find the fee.
“As the debt payment is reduced next year, there was a proposal from Brazil to lower the rate, even supported by several Paraguayan technicians at the beginning. Then they changed their minds, “he said.
Canese, as part of the Itaipú 2023 national cause campaign, mobilized against the reduction of the energy export tariff. Since in itself there is very little that Brazil pays with respect to market prices (US $ 22.60 it pays to Paraguay compared to the more than US $ 200 it pays to Argentina and Uruguay.
“If the price is lowered again it will already be scandalous. That was what caused the definition of the rate to be postponed. It happened for February of next year. What worries us is that there is almost no information that they are talking to Brazil, or how they are pressuring us, “he warned.
For the energy expert, we have a lot to claim from the neighboring country in this case. The main thing is the “spurious” debt of US $ 944 million that our country must pay for cost reductions that only benefited Brazil between 1985 and 1997 (with the complicity of Paraguayan authorities at that time).
“It would be much better if the Government gives more participation to the citizens of the process. Accompany so that not only the rate is lowered, but also that Brazil pays the market price, “he said.
