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First lady testifies on defalcation
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PARAGUAY'S First Lady Susana Galli on Wednesday testified on the misappropriation of US$16 million, switched from Paraguay's Central Bank to an account in New York, in a case implicating President Luis Gonzalez Macchi.
Galli, a former Miss Paraguay and Gonzalez Macchi's fourth wife, testified for approximately one hour before economic crimes prosecutors Fernando Casanas and Javier Contreras.
The investigation was launched on media reports that Paraguay's leading couple and a group of close family members took off on a luxury cruise around the Caribbean in April, following the Americas summit in Quebec City.The daily ABC reported last week that a Paraguayan who allegedly received the US$16 million in the United States, Jose Avila, disbursed the funds to pay for the cruise.
Galli admitted to press on Wednesday that she and the president had been on a yacht in Miami with a group of officials following the summit, but said she knew nothing about the details of the report, which charges that Avila hired the boat.
She maintained she and her family members were innocent of any wrongdoing in the case.
The president will be called to testify in the next few days, as will Saul Gonzalez, his father, a former justice minister under the 1954-89 Alfredo Stroessner regime, his brother criminal judge Jose Gonzalez, his sister writer Judith Gonzalez Macchi, and his brother-in-law.
As well as the misappropriation of funds charge, Gonzalez Macchi faces accusations relating to the discovery in his possession of an armoured vehicle stolen from the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.
The Paraguayan Congress has begun proceedings to try to impeach Gonzalez Macchi following a petition from the opposition for "failing to carry out his duties".
The opposition accuses him of being "the developer, leader and main promoter" of a scheme which allegedly diverted the funds into a "high yield" account with Citibank in New York.
(SD-Agencies)
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Mexico arrests suspected drug kingpin
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A SUSPECTED kingpin in a top international narcotics trafficking ring, who allegedly moved tonnes of Colombian cocaine into the United States, has been arrested, Mexican authorities said on Wednesday.
Alcides Ramon Magana, allegedly a capo in the ruthless Juarez drug cartel, was arrested late on Tuesday in Villahermosa in southeastern Tabasco state, Attorney General Rafael Macedo de La Concha told a news conference.
Magana, who was alone and armed only with a pistol, was nabbed by Mexican anti-drug agents, supported by soldiers, who identified him despite the fact that his physical appearance had changed dramatically from obese and bearded to clean shaven and thin, Macedo said.
Accused of directing the Juarez gang's operations in southeastern Mexico, Magana faces drug trafficking, weapons and other charges.
He could also face extradition for trial in the US within hours of his arrest. The US attorney's office in New York unsealed an indictment against Magana charging him with drug trafficking.
The indictment alleges that Magana worked with Mario Villanueva, a former Mexican state governor arrested last month, to ship more than 200 tonnes of cocaine between 1994 and 1998 from Mexico's Caribbean state of Quintana Roo into the United States.
Earlier this month, Magana was added to a US government blacklist of suspected international drug kingpins. The list was drawn up to prevent drug lords laundering their profits.
The US Justice Department said in a 1999 investigation that Magana, a former policeman known as "El Metro", was the transportation co-ordinator between cocaine traffickers in Colombia and major cartels in Mexico.
The Juarez cartel, based on the US border, is among a handful of international drug gangs operating out of Mexico, which has become a leading route for tonnes of Colombian cocaine on its way to the United States.
Villanueva allegedly received US$500,000 from Magana for each shipment of cocaine the Juarez cartel moved through Quintana Roo state when he was its governor between 1993 and 1999.
He was arrested last month and also faces charges in the United States.
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