Media Nation Research Unit
A new narcoaudio syndicates the National Anti-drug Secretariat (Senad) as a den of disloyal agents. In the conversation of another wiretap, there is talk of a request for a US$ 50,000 bribe from alleged members of a narco structure in Salto del Guairá. This scheme was disarticulated in the framework of the Chase operation; However, with the government of Mario Abdo Benítez, with Arnaldo Giuzzio at the head of the institution, the investigation was not deepened to find corrupt officials.
The wiretapping of the organization of Jorge Zorrilla they were in charge of the Sensitive Intelligence Unit (SIU) and one of the intercepted communications details how anti-drug chiefs asked for a large sum of money, presumably in exchange for not attacking the illegal business.
THE YELLOW BOSS
In the first part, the first man (H1) speaks, who says that there is “a chief from them with the last name Amarilla” With whom they could talk, since the contact was made by another known agent with whom they had already closed a monthly quota.
The second man (H2) comments that he already knows Amarilla, that she had already visited him to ask for “50 greens”. He adds that you should not trust the agent who made the contact too much because he already receives a monthly fee and also takes the “boss”, who would presumably be from Asunción, to reach another economic agreement and keep a slice of it again. .
“He is the one who does the whole thing, we don’t have to neglect him too much because he is a bit dirty too and I already realized that he is double-edged. He also tests us too hard because he later brought this guy to me, he made me talk to him and he came to ask me for 50 thousand, I told him he was crazy, ‘if I barely pay you, where do you want me to find 50 thousand ‘”, H2 recounts.
OF LITTLE IMPORTANCE
The SIU analyst who made the report on the Chase operation was Special Agent Felipe Jara and testified in the oral and public trial held between 2020 and 2021, in which this key call was reproduced again, revealing a bribe request from heads of the Senad.
“At the moment it is very important. As more audios enter or it is not possible to confirm what is expressed in that audio, the importance decreases (…), it cannot be given continuity because they do not subsequently provide more information about the fact ”, he explained.
He remarked that in the report he noted amounts and names. “But since later in subsequent audios nothing was heard and nothing could be interpreted, we did not give it the importance it required,” she emphasized.
When asked if he reported to his superior that the “boss with the last name Amarilla” asked for a US$50,000 bribe, he replied that he did, and when asked who his superior was, he said that the SIU boss was the agent special Cristian Amarilla. That is, the last name that matches the one mentioned in the audio.
At the time of the reproduction in the trial of these compromising audios of acts of corruption, the minister of the Senad was already Zully Rolon.
FROM SUMMARY TO LAUNDERING
It is important to note that the raids to dismantle Zorrilla’s organization were carried out on August 1, 2018 in Salto del Guairá. Immediately, the then Minister of the Senate, Hugo Veraordered the opening of a summary and the dismantling of the entire regional office that was in charge of the special agent Abelino Valdez.
However, by August 15, 2018, with the positioning of Arnaldo Giuzzio as anti-drugs minister, the investigation was not continued and those suspected of concealing corruption cases returned to occupy key positions within the institution.
Former head of SIU Cristian Amarilla, who was informed about “the boss with the last name Amarilla” and the request for US$ 50,000, was promoted as director of Strategic Intelligence and is currently serving in another sensitive area, Pedro Juan Caballero. While Valdez, another “finance wizard” agent, became Director of Operations.
Related note: In Giuzzio’s management, they eliminated wiretaps of alleged narco setup
INVOLVED KNOWN
During the trial, the analyst also stated that they had identified the possible link between the “Chief Amarilla” and drug traffickers.
“He also says that the one that is towards where they are (possibly Urizar) is not too trustworthy either, he says that he works with him from this towards the center, he says that it is double-edged because it was he (possibly Urizar) who brought him the other who asked him for 50 green (Yellow) ”, revealed the analyst.
According to sources, the link the analyst is talking about is supposedly Reinaldo Urizarcaptured in a controlled bribery delivery operation on May 27, 2021. At the time of his arrest he was head of the Itapúa regional office.
Urizar was denounced by an Itapuense mayor, who coincidentally also asked for US$50,000 so as not to implicate him with drug trafficking. Last August he was sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison.
CONVERSATION THAT REVEALS THE SQUEEZE
H1: There is also a chief from them with the last name Amarilla.
H2: But that Yellow, that Yellow was the same one who had threatened me and asked me for 50 greens, 50 greens he had asked me for. And I told him: “Where do you want me to find 50 green ones?” I’ll tell you what, do you know what the problem is with them?
This gentleman from this place is not for us to have so much confidence in him, do you understand? He makes the issue with those from there and he cuts us, they cut us there and he takes the percentage.
He’s the one who does the whole song, we don’t have to neglect him too much because he’s a bit dirty too and I already realized that he’s double-edged. He also tests us too hard because he later brought this guy to me, he made me talk to him and he came to ask me for 50 thousand, I told him he was crazy, “if I barely pay you, where do you want me to find 50 thousand ”. If he had 50,000 greens, I would go to work, I would go around selling CDs on the street, and I would save the 50,000 dollars instead of paying almost 7,000 dollars a month for freight. You’re crazy, I told him, because you know very well that I don’t have any and if that’s why they’re going to take me to jail, come take me away, I told him and we stayed like that. We agreed that he had an agreement for $2,000 that I must give to this guy that until now I still haven’t given him because I don’t have it.
