WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Paraguayan Vice President Hugo Velazquez today said he would resign and withdraw his candidacy for the presidency, after being blacklisted by the United States for alleged “significant” acts of corruption.
Velazquez denied the accusation but said that, to “protect” his party, he would submit his resignation next week.
“I speak with the calm that my behaviour gives me, because I did not do what they are accusing me of,” he told local radio station Monumental. “I am speaking with a clear conscience.”
The U.S. State Department accused Velazquez earlier today of involvement in significant acts of corruption.
A statement from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Valazquez’ associate Juan Carlos Duarte had offered a bribe to a Paraguayan public official to “obstruct an investigation that threatened the Vice President and his financial interests.”
The offered bribe was above $1 million, the U.S. ambassador to Paraguay, Marc Ostfield, said in a statement.
Duarte said he had resigned and would cooperate with authorities, but did not comment directly on the accusations.
“It surprises me. I’m going to make myself available to them (and) ask for the relevant information,” he told Reuters, adding that he had resigned because “it is a public position and I have to honor the institutions.”
Velazquez and Duarte’s immediate family members were also blacklisted in Blinken’s statement.
The state department in July accused former Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes of “significant corruption” and of obstructing a cross-border criminal investigation.
He dismissed the accusations at the time as “unfounded and unjust.”