Paraguay recalls ambassador to Brazil and suspends dam talks over
espionage revelations
[April 02, 2025]
ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay announced Tuesday that it was
recalling its ambassador to Brazil a day after Brazilian authorities
acknowledged that their country's intelligence agency spied on
Paraguayan officials in 2022. Paraguay's government also said it would
suspend negotiations with Brazil over the massive hydroelectric dam it
jointly operates with its more powerful neighbor.
Paraguay's decision came after Brazil’s foreign ministry revealed that
the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing predecessor of
current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had conducted espionage
against the small South American nation.
Lula’s government insisted that it had halted the surveillance against
Paraguay immediately after becoming aware of it, without elaborating on
the nature of the operation or whom it targeted.
Brazilian news site UOL reported that the country’s intelligence agents
had infiltrated Paraguayan computer systems to obtain intel on sensitive
tariff negotiations related to the Itaipu dam on their shared border.
Paraguay on Monday said it would stop talks that had been underway for
months with Brazil over the costs of hydropower generation from the
Itaipu dam until Brazil can clarify “the intelligence action ordered
against our country.”
Paraguay's Foreign Ministry said it had launched an investigation into
what exactly occurred between June 2022 and March 2023, when the
espionage operation reportedly took place under then-President Bolsonaro.
Paraguayan authorities said they had not been aware of any such
infiltration.
“It is a violation of international law, the interference in the
internal affairs of one country in another,” Paraguayan Foreign Minister
Rubén Lezcano told journalists. “We are under constant attack, and the
ministry is taking all necessary steps to defend our confidential
information.”
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Paraguay Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano speaks during a
press conference during his visit in Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 29, 2024.
(AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File)
Lezcano said the ministry was recalling Paraguay's ambassador to Brazil
and had also summoned the Brazilian ambassador to Paraguay to deliver a
formal explanation about the cyber-spying campaign.
The move does not represent a permanent rupture in diplomatic relations,
as Brazil’s Embassy in Paraguay will remain open.
But the discord does reflect a revival of historical tensions between
the neighbors dating back to Brazil's invasion of the country in the
1860s, which started a brutal war in which Paraguay lost a quarter of
its territory and most of its male population.
The Itaipu dam, with a capacity to generate some 14,000 megawatts of
electricity, has long been a sore subject in Paraguay. Many Paraguayans
consider the original treaty — in mandating Paraguay to cede to Brazil
whatever share of the energy it does not use domestically rather than
sell to other countries — as an affront to the nation's sovereignty.
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