Recently, the world looked to South America for the controversial mega-operation against the Comando Vermelho criminal group in Brazil, which left more than 120 dead. Immediately afterwards, the President of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, launched the “Guarani Shield” operation against transnational organized crime, deploying four thousand military personnel on the dry border.
Peña’s efforts to improve the country’s international image, damaged since the murder of anti-mafia Prosecutor Marcelo Pecci in 2022, have not gone unnoticed. Despite its economic growth, Paraguay has low levels of foreign investment. Problems such as inequality and the penetration of organized crime have transcended governments. Likewise, institutional corruption scares away investors in this South American nation. A recent scandal exemplifies this problem:
A fugitive from justice, Camila Antonella Arámbulo Garibaldi, managed to leave the country by air on September 20, just 24 hours after Judge Ana María Esquivel declared her a rebel and issued an arrest warrant. How did he manage to escape, with the arrest warrant loaded into the National Police computer system? For greater controversy, despite the coverage of the Paraguayan newspapers, the fugitive showed off photos walking through Rome on her public networks, where she previously published a smiling one with President Peña.
Arámbulo had missed a key hearing in case 2178/2025, where she is accused of aggravated robbery against Argentine journalist Nicolás Morás, an influential voice in international media and creator of the YouTube channel “Los Liberales”, popular among Hispanics in the United States. Sad paradox, last March Morás published a documentary that exposes, from his libertarian perspective, the reasons for the phenomenon called “Paraguayan Miracle” and highlights the opportunities that the country offers to foreigners who bet on it.
Instead of turning to Interpol, Judge Esquivel lifted the order after an irregular report from her subordinate Evelyn de Brítez, who claimed not to be able to notify the accused due to lack of physical file, despite the fact that the system is digitalized. In a subsequent writing, Brítez admitted that he contacted the same telephone number of the accused that appeared in the file. Noelia Quintana Shaffer, Morás’ lawyer, challenged and filed a criminal complaint against Brítez. This case fell to the Fiscal Unit No. 4 of Lambaré, headed by Amelia Hortensia Bernal Jara, already separated before from the original cause of the theft due to her passivity, which caused the loss of a key video recording for the investigation.
On October 21, Esquivel granted Arámbulo freedom of movement, despite the confirmed and presumed escape on public networks, a fact that should have motivated an immediate investigation into the police complicity that allowed it to be carried out. Under what criteria is someone who demonstrated the will and ability to flee by circumventing immigration controls released? The middle The Observer remember that both Esquivel and his actuary Patricia Cáceres Zapata were denounced for alleged irregular collection of fees from an accused, including requests for bank transfers and even “food for a snack.”
In line with the above, on October 24, 11 police officers from the Identification Department were charged with selling Paraguayan documents to criminals, facilitating irregular entries and exits from the national territory. However, Appeals Judge Dionisio Frutos Serrati confirmed Esquivel’s resolution, making it likely that the dispute will escalate to the Supreme Court of Justice.
In parallel, the television program “Causa Justa” denounced an attempted judicial gag against Morás. which would include a file illegally retained by Justice of the Peace Elvira Margarita Franco, implicated by the press in the so-called “Promissory Note Mafia,” a judicial network accused of manufacturing false promissory notes and using express executive judgments to extort or strip assets from businessmen and individuals.
Who protects Arámbulo?
The Argentine portal REAL POLITICS reconstructed the political profile of Arámbulo Garibaldi. Although the presidential spokesperson clarified that she does not hold public office and described her photo with Peña as “casual,” Arámbulo is an affiliate of the Colorado Party and a member of the Gremial Renewal Movement, led by Enrique Berni Brítez, a member of the Judicial Council. His brother, lawyer Humberto Brítez, is one of the lawyers hired by the Nicolás Maduro regime to represent PDVSA against the Paraguayan state. They also hired the services of Ariel Martínez, former Minister of Justice.
This could generate tensions in Peña’s relationship with Donald Trump, who considers Maduro and PDVSA actors of the alleged “Cartel of the Suns”, designated by the Department of Justice as a foreign terrorist organization, an argument for the US military deployment in the Caribbean.
Arámbulo’s defense lawyer, Fermín “Fercho” Bogado, also has political ties. He participated in the Gremial Alliance campaign, a force led by Jorge Bogarín Alfonso, another advisor to the Judiciary declared “significantly corrupt” by the United States. Bogado was charged with false testimony, accused of “fabricating a case” when he was an assistant prosecutor to benefit a relative of his, and is being investigated by the Magistrates’ Prosecution Jury for selling subjects for the entrance exam to the Judicial School.
This whole panorama makes it clear that Paraguay needs an urgent review of its judicial system. The fight against organized crime in Latin America cannot prosper without an effective division of powers, vital for the rule of law and citizen trust.
The controversial escape of Antonella Arámbulo, shrouded in suspicions of political favors, puts the spotlight on the greatest challenge of the Santiago Peña government: the endemic institutional corruption.
This is not an isolated case in Latin America. In Mexico, to give another example, reality tests the Judicial Reform and makes evident the interventionism of the United States. The declining empire takes advantage of the institutional fragility, corruption and impunity of our nations, while taking advantage of their apparent fight against what they call “narco-terrorism.” The case of Paraguay illustrates a complexity that many often do not think about.