LatinNews Daily - 19 September 2023

*Paraguay’s Vice President Pedro Alliana and the president of Paraguay’s state-owned electricity company Administración Nacional de Electricidad (Ande), Félix Sosa, have announced that Paraguay has begun to withdraw 100% of the energy that corresponds to it from the Yacyretá hydroelectric complex, which it shares with Argentina. On social media, Alliana stated that it was “a matter of sovereignty and defence of the interests of the Republic of Paraguay”. Alliana was referring to the debt that Argentina has accumulated in relation to the consumption of energy from the binational complex. This has been a recent source of tension between Paraguay’s government led by President Santiago Peña and Argentina’s government led by President Alberto Fernández after Argentina failed to comply with debt repayment obligations and an agreement to suspend the collection of tolls on the Paraguay-Paraná waterway, on which the Yacyretá sits. In a statement, Ande said that the technical conditions and demand requirements were in place to enable Paraguay to draw on its full quota of power from the Yacyretá given the high temperatures forecast for this week. Paraguay’s withdrawal of more energy from Yacyretá will force Argentina to look elsewhere for energy at a higher price.