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.
Brazil’s decision came after Brazil’s foreign ministry revealed that the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing former of the current President Luiz Inácio Lulada Silva, spyed small South American countries.
Lula’s government insisted that it stopped surveillance of Paraguay immediately after realizing this goal without elaborating on the nature of the action or the target of the target person.
Brazilian news website UOL reported that intelligence personnel in the country have infiltrated Paraguay computer systems to obtain sensitive tariff negotiations related to the Itaipu dam on their common border.
Paraguay said on Monday it would stop negotiations with Brazil for months to understand the cost of water and electricity generated from the Itaipu dam until Brazil can clarify “intelligence operations against our country’s orders.”
The Paraguayan Foreign Ministry said it had begun investigating what had happened between June 2022 and March 2023, and the espionage was reportedly carried out under the leadership of then-President Bolsonaro. Paraguayan authorities said they were not aware of any such infiltration.
“This violates international law, intervention in one country’s interior ministry in another,” Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Lezcano told reporters. “We have been under attack and the department is taking all the necessary steps to defend our confidential information.”
Lezkano said the ministry is recalling Paraguay’s ambassador to Brazil and has also convened Brazil’s ambassador to Paraguay to formally explain the online fostering campaign.
The move does not represent a permanent breakdown in diplomatic relations, as Brazil’s embassy in Paraguay will remain open.
However, this disharmony does reflect the revival of historical tensions among neighbors, dating back to the attacks on the country invading the country in the 1860s, which began a brutal war with Paraguay losing a quarter of its territory and most of its male population.
The Itaipu Dam has the ability to generate about 14,000 megawatts of electricity, which has long been a pain for Paraguay. Many Paraguayans believe that the original treaty – requiring Paraguay to attribute any energy it does not use domestically and not sell to other countries to Brazil – is an insult to state sovereignty.
