Trial Begins for Miguel Prieto as Defense Seeks to Add 56 Witnesses in Tía Chela Case

The trial of Miguel Prieto, a former mayor of Ciudad del Este and a presidential hopeful, began Monday with procedural challenges from prosecutors and the defense. One defendant sought to postpone the oral proceedings, but the specialized economic-crimes tribunal rejected the request.

Prieto’s defense then asked to add 56 witnesses to the nearly 100 already approved for the trial. Lawyer Derlis Martínez said the excluded witnesses had been rejected during the preliminary hearing because the judge considered the existing number sufficient.

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This case was always about overbilling, but because that was unsustainable, the theory changed during the investigation to a breach of contract by the company Tía Chela over the delivery of 25,000 food kits.

Martínez argued that the case had originally focused on alleged overbilling but later shifted toward an alleged breach of contract involving Tía Chela’s delivery of 25,000 food kits. He said the defense might ultimately call only about 80 of the 150 potential witnesses, but needed the additional names admitted as part of Prieto’s rights. The defense also asked the court to accept news reports and social-media posts about the tender and the later distribution of the kits.

Prieto said the proposed witnesses include Catholic priests and evangelical pastors who received the food kits for distribution to residents. He criticized the earlier decision excluding them and said their testimony was needed to establish what happened. The accusation says the alleged breach of trust caused a loss of G. 2,949,650,000 to the Ciudad del Este municipality. Prieto maintains that he will prove his innocence.

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We distributed the food kits through Catholic and evangelical churches, so the people responsible for those churches, priests and pastors, received the kits and then distributed them to the population.