Former Paraguayan senator Erico Galeano was sentenced to 13 years in prison for ties to a drug cartel

The former lawmaker was stripped of his immunity and jailed to serve a 13-year sentence for criminal association and money laundering.

A former Paraguayan senator and political heavyweight in the country’s ruling party was jailed in the capital on Wednesday to begin serving a 13-year sentence for his logistical and financial ties to a sprawling international cocaine syndicate.

The imprisonment of the former senator, Erico Galeano, marks a spectacular fall from grace. Stripped of his parliamentary immunity just last week, Galeano was convicted of money laundering and criminal association after prosecutors proved he lent his private jet to the notorious Uruguayan drug kingpin Sebastián Marset and brokered a million-dollar cash real estate deal to aid a local trafficking boss.

Marset is wanted in both Paraguay and the United States. The court also cited the sale of Galeano’s property for $1 million in cash to a frontman for Paraguayan drug trafficker Miguel “Tío Rico” (Uncle Rich) Insfrán. According to prosecutors, Insfrán and Marset operated a joint cocaine trafficking ring.

While two appellate courts have upheld the 13-year sentence, Galeano’s legal team has appealed to the country’s court of last resort, the Supreme Court of Justice.

The network he allegedly supported was dismantled during Operation A Ultranza PY—the largest anti-narcotics operation in Paraguay’s history—in February 2022. Including Galeano, six individuals have been convicted, while dozens remain under investigation, among them another Colorado Party politician, Juan Carlos Ozorio.

The sweeping investigation has ensnared other political figures. Former Colorado Party lawmaker Eulalio "Lalo" Gomes was killed in a shootout with National Police at his home in August 2024 as officers arrived to serve him with charges related to drug trafficking.

Galeano served in the lower house of Congress from 2018 to 2023 and as a national senator until the second week of May.

Following a court order for his preventive detention on Tuesday, Galeano was transferred under police escort to the main prison Wednesday to be booked. Facility officials stated the former senator will remain in the admissions unit for at least a week before being relocated to a wing known as “Libertad” (Freedom).