1. Horacio Cartes was president of Club Libertad football club from 2001 until 2012, and president of the national team inside the Paraguayan Football Association during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification.
24 Facts About Horacio Cartes
1. 2.
Cartes' father was the owner of a Cessna aircraft franchise holding company and the young Horacio studied aviation mechanics in the United States.
3.
In 1986, Horacio Cartes spent 60 days in jail during a currency fraud investigation.
4.
Horacio Cartes was accused of making millions of dollars by obtaining a central bank loan at a preferential exchange rate and then moving it through his money exchange business before buying farm equipment in the US The case was eventually dropped.
5.
In 1989, Horacio Cartes was again jailed on charges of currency fraud for seven months.
6.
Horacio Cartes claimed that the plane had made an emergency landing, that he had no involvement with the drug trade and that he opposed the legalization of narcotics.
7.
Horacio Cartes' name appears in the Offshore leaks files in connection with a Cook Islands financial entity linked to Horacio Cartes' Paraguayan bank Banco Amambay.
8.
Until 2008, Horacio Cartes was uninvolved in politics and was not registered as a voter.
9.
Horacio Cartes joined the conservative Colorado Party in 2009 and said he wanted to counter the swing to the left in Latin American politics.
10.
Horacio Cartes became known as an efficient politician uncompromised by his party's past support of the military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled until 1989.
11.
Horacio Cartes was the Colorado candidate at the 2013 presidential election.
12.
In regards to the impeachment of Lugo and the negative reception the country was given in the aftermath by Latin American leaders, Horacio Cartes defended the legality of the impeachment and said that Paraguay should not withdraw from Mercosur, pointing to the economic benefits of the common market and freedom of trade.
13.
Horacio Cartes was sworn in on August 15,2013, and used his inaugural address to declare a war on poverty in Paraguay.
14.
Horacio Cartes's inauguration was attended by fellow conservative South American, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, as well as Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Peru's Ollanta Humala, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, Uruguay's Jose Mujica and Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou.
15.
Horacio Cartes announced his cabinet in August 2013 upon being sworn in.
16.
Consequently, on 28 May 2018, Horacio Cartes offered his resignation as President, which would have to be agreed to by Congress.
17.
Legislators were opposed to Horacio Cartes resigning and taking up the seat, stating it was unconstitutional.
18.
Horacio Cartes withdrew his bid to resign and be sworn in as a senator on 26 June 2018 after not receiving enough political support to carry through his plans.
19.
Former President Horacio Cartes obstructed a major international investigation into transnational crime in order to protect himself and his criminal associate from potential prosecution and political damage.
20.
Additionally, these actions enabled and perpetuated Horacio Cartes's recently documented involvement with foreign terrorist organizations and other US-designated entities which undermines the security of the United States against transnational crime and terrorism and threatens regional stability.
21.
On 26 January 2023, the United States announced further sanctions against Horacio Cartes, prohibiting him to do business with US companies or have access to US banks under the Magnitsky Act sanctions program.
22.
Four Horacio Cartes companies operating in the United States are blocked from accessing the country's financial system under the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List managed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control : Tabacos USA, Bebidas USA, Dominicana Acquisition and Frigorifico Chajha.
23.
Grupo Horacio Cartes later announced that Horacio Cartes's sister Sarah was leaving the conglomerate and that the brand itself would be discontinued.
24.
On 10 August 2018, when asked by a journalist about his response to a series of citizen protests on Yacyreta Dam deals and congressmen with pending criminal cases, Horacio Cartes responded "rubber bullets".