MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Football fans want former Paraguayan president extradited to US

One Olimpia fan wore an orange jumpsuit and an Horacio Cartes mask.

Paraguayan football fans supporting Olimpia chanted Wednesday evening “extradition for Horacio” in reference to former President Horacio Cartés' designation by the US State Department as “significantly corrupt.”

Olimpia was facing Libertad, the club of which Cartés is honorary president after chairing it before becoming head of state between 2013 and 2018.

According to Paraguay's Anti-Money-Laundering Secretariat (Seprelad), Cartés has donated in excess of US$ 45 million to Libertad. Seprelad has taken heavy flak for investigating too much and prosecuting too little

The Olimpia chanted against the former president during a Copa Paraguay game at Asuncion's Defensores del Chaco Stadium. One Olimpia fan wore an orange jumpsuit and an Horacio Cartes mask.

The protest was recorded on video and went viral on social media.

Cartes is sheltering behind his parliamentary immunity as a lifetime Senator in order not to appear before the Bicameral Investigative Committee (CBI) in Congress.

It is speculated that the US Judiciary might at some point request Cartes' extradition.

One of the last shipments carried by the Venezuelan-flagged Boeing 747-300 of Emtrasur seized in Buenos Aires over its alleged involvement in Iran-sponsored terrorism worldwide consisted of cigarettes of Cartes' company.