Paraguay: the case that links a private university and criminals in Brazil

At 8:00 pm on March 23, an anti-narcotics operation by the Paraguayan authorities put a brake on the aspirations of Wesley Neres Dos Santos, alias ‘Bebeção’. In the border town of Pedro Juan Caballero, department of Amambay. This feared Brazilian gang member served as leader of the Primer Comando de la Capital (First Capital Command – PCC), the largest criminal organization in that country.

‘Bebeçao’ was arrested along with five compatriots and eight Paraguayans, in a car wash where they were holding a criminal “assembly”, that is, planning future hits. In the operation carried out by the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad), a powerful arsenal of long weapons and ammunition was seized, explains a report by Emmanuel Gentile for RT.

But what most caught the attention of the authorities was a series of items found among Weslley Dos Santos’s belongings: he had two ID cards that accredited him as a first-year medical student at the Central University of Paraguay (UCP), one for the headquarters of Pedro Juan Caballero, in the north of the country, and another for Ciudad del Este, another Guaraní city that borders Brazil and Argentina in the southern region.

Could it be that a drug lord had an inkling for starting an academic career in health? Could be. But after the capture and expulsion from the country of ‘Bebeçao’ and his accomplices – all with open cases in their country of origin – other nationals fell in the border area with shipments of cocaine and marijuana, student bags, documentation from the UCP Medicine campus and t-shirts with the logo of that same private entity.

The Public Ministry of Paraguay then began to suspect that the Central University of Paraguay had some kind of connection with the criminal actions of these groups. Not only regarding the provision of credentials with which criminals tried to cross the border posing as students, but also regarding a possible money laundering mechanism.

A «medical student» in Paraguay

The director of this establishment is called Aparecido Karlos Bernardo, a Brazilian national, who came to Paraguay in 2009 as a medical student, but up to this date, has no academic title to his name. After leaving his studies, he offered services as an academic advisor, encouraging Brazilians to study at the South American University of Medicine, in exchange for a commission. In 2014, he was sued for scamming students.

In a short time, Bernardo became a partner and director of the Central University of Paraguay – it is unknown if there is a connection between the two educational entities – and he had a meteoric rise in his economic social condition.

Today, he owns three residences, and until his name began to appear in the media, he was driving through the city in a luxurious armored van, accompanied by a strong  team of guards with four vehicles behind and armed people on board.

This was assured to RT by a neighbor of Pedro Juan Caballero linked to politics, who has «a lot of information» on the subject but who asked not to be identified in the journalistic note. «It is dangerous for us that live here. They are going to kill me”, he said.

The mayor of that same city, José Carlos Acevedo, also preferred not to refer to the issue. In response to inquiries from this medium (RT), he chose silence and argued that it is a «complicated» matter.

«A mobster»

The ex-partner of Aparecido Karlos Bernardo, Rosa María Dávalos, has denounced him before the press and the justice system for threats against her and her family. In an interview with a local radio, the woman herself linked the man to two murders and described him as «a mobster».

She affirmed that Bernardo knew in advance that Sandro Abel Arredondo Lugo, former director of the UCP who was shot in 2019, was going to be assassinated, and assured that her ex-partner is «the main direct person responsible» for the death of Romario Douglas Cançado de Lima, a former member of the PCC killed with 43 gun shots in 2017.

Dávalos also said that now she fears for her life and that of her family because Karlos Bernardo «is a very dangerous person». «One day he appeared at my house angry, rebellious and surrounded by gunmen, one of them known as Edison de Lima», she said. And she added that her 16-year-old daughter was recently «followed by a hooded man».

Bernardo denies the accusations

RT contacted Aparecido Karlos Bernardo to answer the accusations that exist against him. He assured – by phone – that some local media wanted to extort money from him, and given his refusal to hand over money, they produced false news that incriminates him.

“I am someone who has worked all my life, who has a family, has children, and who never traded a kilo of marijuana or a gram of cocaine. But now I’m the most dangerous guy on the border. The UCP students and the people who know me came to my defense on social media. The Prosecutor’s Office must investigate», he said. And he added that he has «no (judicial) process», in Brazil, nor in Paraguay.

«I am not a drug dealer. I can meet many drug traffickers on the border, but my business is not related to theirs», he said.

In statements to the Paraguayan press, Bernardo declared last year that Rosa Dávalos accused him out of «spite», and assured that he was never involved in any murder. In turn, a note was recently published on the Facebook account of the Central University of Paraguay stating that the University cannot be aware of the illicit activities of the students it enrolls, and accuses the media of spreading ‘fake news’ in a «criminal, defamatory and inconsistent» way.

Everything is a matter of research. But Bernardo’s alleged links with the Paraguayan-Brazilian underworld had been revealed earlier, when photos of the university director sharing a swimming pool with Levi Adriani Felicio, considered the main supplier of drugs to the PCC and the Comando Vermelho, came to light. The Comando Vermelho is another powerful drug gang that emerged in Brazil, supposedly in conflict with the other group. Felicio was captured in October 2019, in a Senad operation.

The truth is that, currently, Pedro Juan Caballero is a disputed territory for drug traffickers, who manage a good part of the huge clandestine marijuana plantations found in the jungle areas of the Paraguayan city.

At the moment there is no clear leadership, as several ‘big fish’ have fallen in recent years. The «prosperous Brazilian tire businessman» Jorge Rafaat Toumani, alias ‘Saddam’, was shot in his van in 2016 in a PCC ambush involving around 100 members, who fired more than 400, .50 caliber bullets from approximately thirty vehicles.

Better luck had Luis Carlos Da Rocha, also known as ‘Cabeza Branca’. Low-profile, although with an «immense» amount of properties, among which 20 residencies and 100 cars stand out, according to the Paraguayan Prosecutor’s Office. Da Rocha was arrested in 2017 by order of the Brazilian Justice.

In that country, they captured Jorge Teófilo Samudio, alias ‘Samura’, last March. This Paraguayan native of Pedro Juan Caballero was a narco chief and a reference for the Vermelho Command. He had been arrested in 2018 by the Senad and rescued a year later by an armed commando group, which attacked prison staff during a transfer to the courthouse where he was supposed to testify.

Paraguay: «Safe Borders»

In the fight against these groups, the National Anti-Drug Secretariat of Paraguay (Senad), dependent on the Executive Power, assumes a fundamental role. «What we are looking for is that no criminal faction regain control and once again insert itself within the borders, as happened before with very strong and striking leaderships, something that was handled as an open secret», said Zully Rolón, the head of the Senad, to RT.

The official points out that this year the Senad began receiving intelligence reports that allowed it to carry out important operations. In the first one, held in January and called ‘Safe Borders’, Giovanni Barbosa da Silva, also known as ‘Bonitão’, was arrested along with other accomplices. In the same procedure, clandestine cocaine laboratories were detected in Pedro Juan Caballero.

In the second operation, ‘Safe Borders II’ in March, the university lead was opened when ‘Bebeçao’ and 15 other members of the organization were captured in the aforementioned car wash.

Another piece of information that alerted the investigators is that the property where the ‘Lava-car’ firm operated belongs to the local branch of the traditional Colorado Party (Republican National Association-ANR), the same political party as of President Mario Abdo Benítez.

The authorities of said headquarters denied having links with the detained members of the PCC, and assured that that sector of the property had been rented for 4 years to Weslley Neres Dos Santos, whom, until that moment, they only knew as the person who ran the ‘car-washing’ business . «Never a single Guarani collaborated with the section. I hardly even know him. I only knew that he was in charge of the lava-car», said Julio César Vega Dávalos, councilor and president of the section, to ABC Color at the time.

«We are not ‘closed’ to the debate on legalization»

Paraguay is the largest illegal producer of cannabis in South America, supplying Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay with ‘pressed marijuana’, a product of lower quality than the buds offered by the plant, and which is mostly demanded by low-income consumers. Every week, the Senad carries out procedures in rural areas of Pedro Luis Caballero, in which it discovers and destroys illicit marijuana crops that exceed 80 hectares. Although these actions represent significant economic damages for criminal organizations, it seems that it is never enough to eradicate this gigantic business in the territory.

That is why it is worth wondering if the idea of moving towards legalization, (as is the case in the United States, promoter of the failed ‘war on drugs’) would not help to deliver a strong blow against the clandestine criminal gangs, the violence and the drug trafficking in Paraguay and the rest of the countries of the Southern Cone.

«Since I took office, I would like to open this debate. But legalization, as such, has to be structural, and discussed with neighboring countries. We, alone, cannot take this step», says Rolón, and highlights the difference between legalization and regulation, such as the one that already works in Uruguay, where the illegal market lost profits of more than 22 million dollars, according to the authorities, although the crime rate has not been reduced.

«It is important to have the debate. Unfortunately, the urgency imposed by the pandemic does not allow us to address these issues because there are other priorities. We are not ‘closed’ (to have the debate) because we are in the 21st century. But organized crime is not only about marijuana, it is much bigger; and the drug trafficking that gives more economic power is that of cocaine, of which Paraguay is not a producing country», adds Rolón.

And she assures that President Abdo «was always firm», from the moment of his inauguration, in proposing a «frontal fight» against organized crime, which is not limited only to drug trafficking.

“As the Senad, permanently, with the means we have and in alliance with the Federal Police of Paraguay and Brazil, we are vigilant so that criminal factions do not re-insert themselves as large clans in those border areas, as well as with Argentina in the southern part – says Rolón – I believe that cooperation, both national and international, is essential for countries like ours. We are surrounded by neighbors who permanently have income from weapons and drugs, so we are trying to increase our capacities (so as to confront this situation)».