Grupo Cartes
Grupo Cartes was a business conglomerate owned by Paraguay's ex-president Horacio Cartes. It includes the cigarette company Tabacalera del Este (Tabesa), as well as beverage, banking, agricultural, transportation and trading interests. The group said it employed about 3,500 people as of 2013.
| Industry | Conglomerate |
|---|---|
| Defunct | 24 March 2023 |
| Fate | Companies split and reorganized; subsidiaries Frigorífico Chajhá, Dominicana Acquisition, Bebidas USA and Tabacos USA dissolved |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Horacio Cartes, Sarah Cartes (until 2023) |
| Products | Banking, Trade, Transportation, Beverages, Tobacco, Agriculture |
Number of employees | ≈3,500 (2013) |
| Subsidiaries | Aerocentro, Ganadera Sofia, Banco Amambay, Tabacalera del Este, Tabacos del Paraguay, Habacorp Cigar Trading, Chajhá, Ganadera Las Pampas, Bebidas del Paraguay, Distribuidora del Paraguay, Paraguay Soccer, Consignataria de Ganado, Agrocitrus del Paraguay, Tabacos USA, FundaciAerocentro, Fundacion Rampon T. Cartes, Sporting Life, Transporte Multimodal del Paraguay, La Mision, Bebidas USA, Fundacion Ñande Paraguay |
| Website | www |
In 2023, U.S. ambassador to Paraguay Marc Ostfield announced that the Office of Foreign Assets Control banned doing financial operations in American dollars of any kind to Horacio Cartes and his enterprise. This came after an investigation concluded that he actively participated in corruption actions before, during and after his period as president of Paraguay. Later, both Horacio Cartes and his sister Sarah announced that they were leaving and divesting from the conglomerate and that the Grupo Cartes's brand and structure would be changed, effective 24 March 2023. Cartes passed shares in the businesses to his legal heirs as an advance on their inheritance, with each new company group(s) operating autonomously.