My Tall Ideas

Today I had a very interesting opportunity to meet and listen to a lecture on Paraguay corruption from one of it’s government officials.  His name was Gustavo Ivaldi.  He is the father of  Elias Ivaldi’s, who is a student in my Geography class at Washburn University. His father has had many assignments for the Paraguayan government such as: Head of the Treasury department, Head of the Industry and Commerce department, and he is currently working with the American Embassy and the Paraguayan government reporting directly to the Paraguayan president in specialized service relative to the “Triple Frontier”.   The “Triple Frontier” is considered Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.  He was in the country to speak to the  American Congress about the “war” Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil are fighting against the Arabian and Chinese Mafias.

Mr. Ivaldi works for UTE which is 8 people who the American government has done extensive background checks and lie detector tests on in order to work with them.  The corruption in Paraguay consists largely of counterfeit products, tax evasion, money laundering, and organized crime.  He said that Paraguay is a prime place right now for corruption and illegal activity.  For one is it situated between the two largest countries in South America, Brazil and Argentina.  It also has the lowest tax rate in South America at 12%.  With its location and very low tax rate it is attracting organized crime and companies looking to make big profit by lying about numbers on invoices, who he calls “bad investors.”  One example he gave was a company that shipped cargo to Paraguay and only claimed 3% of the cargo that was on board with customs.  There is also the attraction of cheap labor.  The poor work 6 days a week from 8-5 for about $200 a month.  With this cheap labor, low tax rate, claiming only 3% of products, and the police and law turning a blind eye, companies are able to make great profit at the expense of the country of Paraguay, its people, and morals.

Mr. Ivaldi talked a lot about the counterfeit products in Paraguay.  Most of them are the normal counterfeit products that we see around America such as: DVDs, Cd’s, watches, clothes, purses, shoes, etc…  However, he also mentioned that now they are starting to make counterfeit car parts and even airplane parts.  For those who know about counterfeit products like people standing up in the bootleg DVDs, or fake Rolex watches that just fall apart, now think about all that applied to automobiles and airplanes.  Think about a counterfeit turbine on an airplane that the blades just fall off once it hits hard enough winds, or brake pads that just disintegrate after too much heat and the brakes fail.  What horrible accidents could happen because of these parts?  Greed really has no limits.

Mr. Ivaldi believes that his country has the potential to change.  Washington believes this too.  Mr Ivaldi and the UTE are working with Washington to try to turn Paraguay around and stop the corruption that is defiling a beautiful country and its people.  Mr. Ivaldi said that Washington contributes approximately $36 million to the efforts every year to stop the corruption in Paraguay.  But, it is a battle that is very hard to win.  It really is a vicious cycle.  The people are poor so they buy the cheap knock-off products, this helps the corrupt individuals stay in business, which takes money away from the real product companies, which in turn causes them to loose money and not have jobs for workers, which keeps people poor and they can’t afford the real products.

After listening to Mr. Ivaldi I must say that I highly admire this man.  The man stands up to corruption every day of his life and does not give in and does not turn a blind eye.  He said that he wakes up every morning knowing that he is going to have to face many many battles in that day.  He said that people will tell him to just “close his eyes for a one minute or two minutes,” and then make $500,000 or $2 million.  Yet, he doesn’t do it.  What an example to set for your children to stand up for a something that you believe in.  After listening to his passion for change and in doing the right thing it makes you feel really bad for ever buying a bootleg DVD.

This writer says lets help Paraguay.  Lets help Gustavo Ivaldi and the UTE turn their country around.  Read more about Paraguay.  Find out if you can micro-invest in companies that are trying to help the economy in Paraguay.  Make sure you don’t buy something from a company that is taking advantage of this country and its people.  Heck, even write your Senator or Representative and tell them you want more help to go to the Paraguayan people and their government to turn this country around.

Tags: airplane, america, Arabian, Argentina, automobile, bootleg, Brazil, cd, Chinese, Congress, corrupt, corruption, counterfeit, customs, dvd, greed, Gustavo Ivaldi, Mafia, micro-invest, organized crime, Paraguay, Paraguayan, Rolex, Senate, South America, tax evasion, tax rate, Triple Frontier, UTE, Washburn University, Washington