MEXICO CITY — Authorities in Paraguay said Monday they believe a former state security chief from Mexico arrested there over the weekend was planning to establish a criminal network in the South American nation.

Paraguay’s National Antidrug Secretary Jalil Rachid said Hernán Bermúdez had fled from Mexico to Panama then Brazil and from there entered Paraguay illegally. He was hiding out and authorities believe was in contact with Mexico’s powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Rachid said.

Authorities apparently found Bermúdez after he used a credit card. “We found him through certain financial transactions that he made here in Paraguay,” Rachid said.

Paraguay President Santiago Peña posted a video to X that showed heavily armed police in camouflage battering down the door to a luxuriou

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