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US and Paraguay Sign Airspace and Border Deals, Open Nuclear Talks

Paraguay security deals: Landau’s visit brought an air-intercept pact, PISCES screening, $11.75M in aid and nuclear talks after China sanctioned a minister.

ByPeter
Pink colonial-style government palace with a central tower and Paraguayan flag behind palm gardens
Palacio de los López, seat of Paraguay's government, Asunción, September 2026. Photo by MosheA via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2026 — The United States and Paraguay signed an airspace interception agreement and a border-screening memorandum during a three-day visit to Asunción by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, the State Department said in a fact sheet released Oct. 21. Washington also pledged new security funding and opened talks on a civil nuclear agreement with one of Taiwan’s last diplomatic allies.

The visit came a week after China sanctioned a Paraguayan cabinet minister over his country’s ties to Taipei.

What the two governments signed

Landau and Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano signed an Aerial Intercept Assistance Agreement, which the State Department said will strengthen Paraguay’s capacity to monitor its airspace against suspected narcotrafficking flights. It still has to be brought into force through an exchange of diplomatic notes. According to a Paraguayan Foreign Ministry statement quoted by The Rio Times, the cooperation includes shared radar data, intelligence and technical assistance.

The second document is a memorandum of intent to deploy PISCES, the Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System, a U.S. border-management and passenger-screening system meant to counter terrorist travel.

The State Department listed these further commitments:

  • $5.5 million in foreign assistance for countering terrorist financing, a new counterterrorism center, border security and digital evidence work.
  • $6.25 million in bilateral security assistance against transnational organized crime.
  • A counterterrorism advisor to be posted in Asunción, the first such position for the department’s Counterterrorism bureau in the region.
  • The first office in Asunción of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), which will also serve as a regional hub for the Southern Cone.

Investment and a nuclear opening

Landau led a trade delegation to Asunción from Oct. 19 to 21, according to the department’s travel announcement. The fact sheet said U.S. firm Crusoe and Paraguayan developer Araico finalized a partnership to build computing infrastructure powered by the Itaipú hydroelectric dam, with a first deployment planned for mid-2027. Uranium Energy Corp announced a $12 million investment in one of its uranium concessions in Paraguay.

The two governments also opened negotiations on a “123 Agreement” under the U.S. Atomic Energy Act. The State Department said such an agreement would set the legal framework U.S. companies need to export significant civil nuclear equipment and material to Paraguay.

“We have never seen these levels of cooperation that suit both countries,” Landau told reporters after meeting President Santiago Peña on Oct. 19, in remarks translated from Spanish by The Rio Times.

The Taiwan backdrop

Paraguay is the only country in South America that maintains formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than the People’s Republic of China, according to a Congressional Research Service overview, which says the United States regards Paraguay as an “important ally” of Taiwan.

On Oct. 12, Beijing sanctioned Paraguay’s information and communications technology minister, Gustavo Villate, and Belize’s foreign minister, Francis Fonseca, over their governments’ ties to Taiwan, Reuters reported. Paraguay’s Diario HOY linked the sanction on Villate to Paraguay’s cooperation with Taiwan on the Yguazú artificial intelligence center, and reported that the measures include cancelling his visa. Reuters described the sanctions as largely symbolic because ministers from Taiwan’s allies rarely travel to China.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott responded in a statement: “The Trump administration opposes coercion and aggression by China against countries in our hemisphere for exercising their sovereign rights.” A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the United States should “stop sending the wrong signals to Taiwan separatist forces,” according to Reuters. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the sanctions as interference and said Paraguay and Belize had reaffirmed their ties with Taipei, Diario HOY reported.

What it means

Analysis: None of the State Department’s Oct. 21 announcements mentions China or Taiwan, so the documents themselves do not tie the package to Beijing’s sanctions. The timing still matters: Paraguay is one of only 12 countries that recognize Taipei, according to Reuters, and new U.S. aid, investment and a possible nuclear framework add economic weight to its partnership with Washington.

The Paraguay security deals point at an older problem. CRS notes U.S. concern that Hezbollah raises money through drug trafficking and money laundering in the tri-border area Paraguay shares with Argentina and Brazil, and that prosecutions there remain rare. The interception deal, PISCES and the new INL office target exactly those flows.

Watch for the diplomatic notes that bring the interception agreement into force, the first round of 123 Agreement talks, and any further Chinese measures against Paraguayan officials. Landau continues to Buenos Aires, where he is scheduled to stay through Oct. 26.

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