Carretera Ruta 9 Dr. Carlos Antonio Lopez, Km 26.5, Villa Hayes, Presidente Hayes, Paraguay
Reg. ID
80112472-7, Paraguayan tax identification number
Official reason
The United States is sanctioning a former and a current senior Paraguayan official for their involvement in systemic corruption that has undermined democratic institutions in Paraguay. The Department of the Treasury is designating Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara (Cartes), the former President of Paraguay, and Hugo Adalberto Velazquez Moreno (Velazquez), the current Vice President of Paraguay. It is also designating four entities owned or controlled by Cartes: Tabacos USA Inc., Bebidas USA Inc., Dominicana Acquisition S.A., and Frigorifico Chajha S.A.E. These individuals and entities are being sanctioned pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world.
On December 23, 2016, the President signed the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Pub. L. 114-328, Title XII, Subtitle F) (the “Act”) into law. The Act authorized the President to impose targeted sanctions on any foreign person the President determines is, among other things, responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, or a government official, or a senior associate of such an official, responsible for, or complicit in, ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, acts of significant corruption.
On December 20, 2017, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) (IEEPA), issued Executive Order 13818 (82 FR 60839, December 26, 2017) (E.O. 13818), effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on December 21, 2017.
In E.O. 13818, the President determined that serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.
OFAC is issuing the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 583 (the “Regulations”), to implement the Act and E.O. 13818, pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 13818. A copy of E.O. 13818 appears in appendix A to this part.
