Diplomatic Briefing
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Newsline: Paraguay named illegal immigrant to consular post
Paraguay named an undocumented U.S. immigrant to run its consulate in New York, discovering his illegal status only when the man returned home to get his diplomatic papers and was denied a U.S. visa. Paraguay’s foreign ministry acknowledged that it was a mistake to name Augusto Noguera as the consulate’s “first official,” but said President Fernando Lugo annulled the decision as soon as he was informed of the U.S. Embassy’s visa denial. Noguera had been in the U.S. for about 17 years, working in construction and becoming a pillar of New York’s 20,000-strong Paraguayan community, according to Liberal Party Rep. Elvis Balbuena, who had lobbied for Lugo to name Noguera to the post. Balbuena has called for Lugo to expel the U.S. consular official who denied the visa.
