The Same Phone Lines Were Used for Attacks and Government Propaganda

The same phone lines used to launch attacks against Paraguay’s press, business leaders and political opposition were also used to place government-friendly advertisements, according to new revelations in the La Red Desinformante case.

The Facebook pages Despierta Paraguay and Paraguay Elige spent 443 million guaraníes during Santiago Peña’s administration on what the report describes as dirty campaigns and “positive” state publicity. Chats submitted by Yecika Bracho before a notary and subjected to expert analysis indicate that both accounts operated with phone lines paid for by executives of Azafrán SA.

Azafrán appears linked to Prana SA, where Communications Vice Minister Alejandra Duarte Albospino served as digital director. Because Meta requires advertisers to provide a responsible person’s name, phone number, email address and other information, José Ignacio García, a partner and director of Azafrán, allegedly ordered the purchase of SIM cards and coordinated the creation of accounts from Argentina.

Local arrangements were handled by Bracho and Gabriel Boero, Azafrán’s legal adviser and her supervisor. In July 2022, the same month Facebook created the Paraguay Elige and Sucia Política pages, Azafrán operator Sergio Omar Masero Ruiz sent a phone to Bracho’s office to activate the first SIM cards. The cards had been bought in third parties’ names, raising suspicions at Boero’s law office in Asunción. Boero told Bracho they would be used “for marketing campaigns.”

Another purchase arranged by Bracho in January 2023 was connected to two of the network’s most active pages. Despierta Paraguay, created on February 20, 2023, used the number +595 971 259828 and focused on systematic defamation campaigns and audiovisual fabrications made with artificial intelligence. The pages continued operating in parallel until they were removed in May 2026 after the scandal broke.

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for marketing campaigns