Paraguay recalls ambassador to Brazil and suspends dam talks over espionage revelations

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay introduced Tuesday that it was recalling its ambassador to Brazil a day after Brazilian authorities acknowledged that their nation’s intelligence agency spied on Paraguayan officials in 2022. Paraguay’s authorities additionally mentioned it will droop negotiations with Brazil over the huge hydroelectric dam it collectively operates with its extra highly effective neighbor.

Paraguay’s resolution got here after Brazil’s overseas ministry revealed that the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing predecessor of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had performed espionage in opposition to the small South American nation.

Lula’s authorities insisted that it had halted the surveillance in opposition to Paraguay instantly after turning into conscious of it, with out elaborating on the character of the operation or whom it focused.

Brazilian information website UOL reported that the nation’s intelligence brokers had infiltrated Paraguayan laptop programs to acquire intel on delicate tariff negotiations associated to the Itaipu dam on their shared border.

Paraguay on Monday mentioned it will cease talks that had been underway for months with Brazil over the prices of hydropower technology from the Itaipu dam till Brazil can make clear “the intelligence motion ordered in opposition to our nation.”

Paraguay’s International Ministry mentioned it had launched an investigation into what precisely occurred between June 2022 and March 2023, when the espionage operation reportedly came about beneath then-President Bolsonaro. Paraguayan authorities mentioned that they had not been conscious of any such infiltration.

“It’s a violation of worldwide legislation, the interference within the inside affairs of 1 nation in one other,” Paraguayan International Minister Rubén Lezcano instructed journalists. “We’re beneath fixed assault, and the ministry is taking all vital steps to defend our confidential info.”

Lezcano mentioned the ministry was recalling Paraguay’s ambassador to Brazil and had additionally summoned the Brazilian ambassador to Paraguay to ship a proper clarification concerning the cyber-spying marketing campaign.

The transfer doesn’t characterize a everlasting rupture in diplomatic relations, as Brazil’s Embassy in Paraguay will stay open.

However the discord does replicate a revival of historic tensions between the neighbors relationship again to Brazil’s invasion of the nation within the 1860s, which began a brutal warfare through which Paraguay misplaced 1 / 4 of its territory and most of its male inhabitants.

The Itaipu dam, with a capability to generate some 14,000 megawatts of electrical energy, has lengthy been a sore topic in Paraguay. Many Paraguayans take into account the unique treaty — in mandating Paraguay to cede to Brazil no matter share of the vitality it doesn’t use domestically moderately than promote to different nations — as an affront to the nation’s sovereignty.