William Acosta, CEO of Equalizer Investigations for FinGurú
INTRODUCTION: PRIVILEGE AND TRANSCENDENTAL NETWORKS
Living in Paraguay or Argentina in 2025 means not only facing the daily difficulties of the common citizen, but also discovering how power and money construct discreet routes where privileges cross borders. The names of officials, businessmen, and operators appear in each chapter of this plot: luxury cars, private jet registrations, multi-million dollar bank transfers, contracts finely tuned to the millimeter, and favors that seem impossible for those not at the top of the power structure. It is a narrative where the state becomes a stage for private negotiations, and where social outrage grows with each new revelation. Key witnesses like Luz Candado in Paraguay recount how envelopes of cash circulate in presidential palaces (ABC Color, 2025a). The official reaction, in both countries, swings between silence and concealment, leading the reader to wonder who wins and who loses when the public is privatized by the force of influence, strategy, and privileged access.
PARAGUAYAN PLOT: THE MACHINERY OF OSTENTATION
At the center of the story is a gray Toyota Land Cruiser, plate WCEO 645, transferred in 2023 from Decorapar SA, headed by Chinese businessman Long Jiang, to Real Viviendas EAS, owned by Santiago Peña (president) and Francisco Peña (businessman and brother) (RDN, 2025). This vehicle, beyond its price and luxury, connects presidential trips and official transfers with the aerial logistics provided by Hoahi SA; private jets identified (registrations ZP-GOD, ZP-BDT, H958JL), piloted and organized from Jiang's circles, accompany the travels of Peña and essential executives like Pedro Alliana (vice president) (Flightradar24, 2025).
Kamamya SA, another company under Jiang's control, won a bid in 2023 to supply 328,687 school desks to Itaipú Binational: a total of nearly USD 32 million, paying inflated prices for furniture imported from Shanghai Sinotex United Corp. Ltd. (Moopio, 2025). Banks such as BBVA Paraguay, Banco Continental, and Banco Regional managed the payments and documented transfers. The Paraguayan criminal case is being investigated under the unified case file labeled “Chinese Desks Case,” Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Paraguay, case number: MEC 2025-25038 (ABC Color, 2025b; Public Ministry, 2018). The import documents mention import dispatch number 8IC04001304 corresponding to one of the operations carried out by Kamamya SA (Moopio, 2025).
This infrastructure is complemented by direct accusations such as those made by Luz Candado, a former presidential official, who returned envelopes with USD 200,000 and was subsequently excluded from the circle (ABC Color, 2025a). The investigation continues under the prosecutorial file: MEC 2025-25038, Chinese Desks Case.
The Chinese penetration in Paraguay transcends the story of desks and cars. Companies such as Decorapar SA, Kamamya SA, and Hoahi SA, led by Long Jiang, have capitalized on Paraguay's openness to Asian products and logistics, displacing local brands and entering the most strategic spheres of trade, construction, and influence (Infobae, 2025; Resumen Latinoamericano, 2025).
ARGENTINE PLOT: TRANSFERS, LOGISTICS, AND CONCEALMENT IN THE POLITICAL ELITE
In Buenos Aires, businessman Antonio “Fred” Machado (detained for money laundering and linked to international drug trafficking) funded the campaign of deputy José Luis Espert with a transfer of USD 200,000 (Página12, 2025; ElDiarioAR, 2025). The legal bridge was Francisco Oneto, lawyer for Machado and operator of President Milei. Debora Lynn Mercer-Erwin, a partner and convicted in Texas, structured trusts from which that transfer originated, recorded in the accounting of the federal case “United States v. Debra Lynn Mercer-Erwin et al.,” Eastern District of Texas, indictment 4:20-CR-212, Doc. 224 (US District Court, Texas, 2021).
The logistical model of cars and private jets, and the contracts with consultancies (Libra/Hermes case), appear in open investigations in the Argentine federal jurisdiction for illegal campaign financing and money laundering (Federal Prosecutor San Isidro, BBC Mundo, 2025).
The controversial case of the audios of Karina Milei and the state purchase contracts with alleged inflated prices and bribes is processed in federal courts as “Case for alleged bribes in the ANDIS” (El País, 2025; M24, 2023). These audios and the scandal of Droguería Suizo Argentina have put the spotlight on the General Secretariat of the Presidency and Milei's inner circle just before the elections, affecting his public image and electoral prospects (CNN Español, 2025; Reuters, 2025).
DESTRUCTIVE IMPACT: DISTRAUST, INVESTMENT, AND ELECTIONS
These scandals severely impact the image of Javier Milei's administration and generate immediate and profound consequences (BBC Mundo, 2025; Reuters, 2025; Pagina12, 2025). The perception of impunity and complicity, along with the audios and prolonged judicial processes, erodes political capital and social trust. The uncertainty affects foreign investment, increases country risk, and reduces growth expectations (LATimes, 2025; Management & Fit, 2025). More than 73% of Argentines consider corruption “very serious,” and over 60% blame the current administration and directly Karina Milei's environment (Escambray, 2025).
The failure of institutions to effectively and transparently conclude judicial processes enables frustration and punitive voting, seals general distrust, and weakens democracies in the region (DW, 2025; Última Hora, 2025; Quántico, 2025).
CONCLUSION: THE FUTURE AT STAKE BETWEEN INDIGNATION AND DEMOCRATIC RENEWAL
The web of corruption involving officials, international businessmen, and political networks is not only a legal or administrative problem: it is, above all, a social and cultural wound. In both Paraguay and Argentina, the feeling that privileges, arbitrariness, and impunity are the norm destroys social faith in the democratic pact (Paraguay, Última Hora, 2025; Argentina, BBC Mundo, 2025). The scandal not only impacts the current governments but also weakens the international image of both countries and disrupts the trust of investors and multilateral organizations.
The lack of exemplary responses and the constant temptation to concealment fuel popular discontent, leading to protests, loss of electoral credibility, and an erosion of institutional legitimacy (Escambray, 2025; LATimes, 2025). If controlling and investigative bodies —judges, prosecutors, and police forces— do not break the inertia of delay and corporate shielding, society will again view democracy as a failed promise, opening the door to authoritarian solutions or a retreat into abstention.
However, indignation, when articulated with memory and an active demand for transparency, can be the seed of change. The meticulous record of files, transfers, registrations, and involved actors bears witness not only to the damage but also to the possible tools for citizen control. That Justice, in its most impartial, profound, and restorative dimension, applies the weight of the law where it must, without regard to names or surnames, is the only way to restore public faith and give meaning back to institutional life in the region (DW, 2025; U.S. Embassy, 2025).
The destiny of Paraguay and Argentina now depends on their collective capacity to not yield to disenchantment, but to forge societies that are more vigilant, less fragile, and truly intolerant of corruption as a system.
About the Author:
William L. Acosta is a graduate of PWU and Alliance University. He is a retired police officer from the New York Police Department and founder and CEO of Equalizer Private Investigations & Security Services Inc., an agency licensed in New York and Florida, with international projection.
Since 1999, he has led investigations into drug cases, homicides, and missing persons, as well as participating in criminal defense at both the state and federal levels.
An expert in international and multi-jurisdictional cases, he has coordinated operations in North America, Europe, and Latin America.
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