Minister of Paraguayan Industry and Commerce, Javier Giménez, said Lula’s management denied having participated in the operation, but ‘however, it is admitted that Bolsonaro’s government has carried out these espionage actions”
The government said on Wednesday (18) that it maintains a “firm position” in its request for explanation to Brazil about espionage issues to obtain planned information related to the Itaipu Binational hydroelectric dams, an issue that has resurfaced in recent hours after the publication of new journalistic revelations.
“We continue with the firm position of the Paraguayan government to receive the relevant explanations about the facts that occurred,” said Paraguayan Industry and Commerce, Javier Giménez, in statements to the “ABC Cardinal” radio station. Giménez stated that the government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denied having participated in the operation, but “however, it is admitted that the government of (Jair) Bolsonaro carried out these espionage actions through its intelligence agency.”
In March, the government of Lula admitted that the Brazilian Intelligence Agency () specifies an espionage operation against Paraguay in 2022, under Bolsonaro’s administration, and clarified that it was closed on March 27, 2023. At a later meeting, in April, in Buenos Aires, the Ministers of Foreign Relations of Paraguay, Rubén Ramírez, and Brazil, Mauro Vieira, discussed the issue and discussed the issue and discussed the issue and discussed the issue and discussed the issue and discussed the issue They agreed to put the relationships back on the tracks.
During a conversation, Vieira, according to the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry at the time, “reported that his government is in the process of a broad investigation to clarify the serious events” and was “awaiting the results” provided by the corresponding authorities.
Giménez pointed out today that Paraguay is still waiting for the document with the explanation and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working to “build this bridge”, a process in which this request is first “satisfactory” and then returned to the Annex C negotiating table of the Itaipu Agreement, which assumption paralyzed in response to the termination complaints.
Annex C of the Itaipu Treaty, signed in 1973, forces Paraguay to sell to Brazil the surplus of its energy quota produced in Itaipu at preferred prices. By 2024, the two countries agreed to increase paid rates throughout Brazil over the next three years to $ 19.28 per kilowatt-ses, about $ 2.50 more.
Today, the Paraguayan press repercussions new information released in Brazil, according to the Lula government, would have continued its espionage activities and that Brazilian agents had early access to a speech from the then Foreign Minister of Paraguay, Julio Arriola, delivered in March 2023.
Giménez stressed that Paraguay should receive an explanation for the initial complaint and said that the country is “eager to rebuild” its relationship with Brazil, and emphasize that the country is its main commercial partner and with which it has other issues beyond Annex C.
*With information from EFE
Posted by Carolina Ferreira
