The GOP has yet to adopt a timetable for meeting the goals and objectives of the 1988 UN Convention. However its commitment to do so is explicitly included in the new national antidrug strategy. The narcotics control airport unit showed marked improvement, making seizures of 22 kgs of cocaine and nine arrests. The GOP recognizes corruption as a public policy challenge, but has taken only limited measures to prevent or punish public corruption in general, or specifically with respect to drug trafficking. That said, the arrest of a former port authority director and Colorado Party president, along with the replacement of several senior military officials following a failed coup attempt in April were positive steps toward developing institutions capable of withstanding and combatting corruption.
Judicial reform continues, but is incomplete.
All of Paraguay's judges and prosecutors were appointed within the past 20 months, and they are working with outdated penal and criminal procedure codes that lend themselves to complexities, non-transparency, and the inefficent handling of criminal cases. Major revisions to these codes are still pending before congress. Corruption in the prison system resulted in the escape of at least five narcotics traffickers. In turn, this led to the release, based on the lack of corroborating testimony, of a senior regional Customs official arrested in a 31 kgs cocaine seizure. Law 1340 of 1988 subjects public functionaries that engage in drug-related offenses to the maximum applicable penalties.