President Santiago Peña tries to distance himself from Juan Roberto “Jimmy” Villaverde Emategui, one of the main suspects in the “Disinformation Network” scandal, which allegedly invested about half a million dollars on platforms such as Meta and Google to attack independent journalists and political opponents. In recent statements, Peña said that Villaverde is “a militant of the Colorado Party like thousands of others” and denied that he works in government communications or that he has an office at the presidential residence, Mburuvicha Róga.
However, the journalistic archive contradicts the official version. On May 2, 2023, two days after winning the elections, Peña gave an interview to radio 1080 AM and, when asked who would handle his digital communications, replied: “Carlos Sánchez has been my press chief, he will continue to be, and the same Jimmy, who is in charge of the networks.” On that occasion, Peña praised Villaverde as someone who knows his personality.
Furthermore, official documents show that in July 2025, the General Directorate of Presidential Information issued a badge for Villaverde with the position of Digital Communication, authorizing his access to Mburuvicha Róga. Senator Rafael Filizzola, in a post on the X platform, stated that “the lie of President Peña and the Minister of Mitic collapses.” Filizzola accused the government of “mythomaniacs” and denounced the spending of more than 470 thousand dollars on ads on Meta and about 100 thousand dollars on YouTube, totaling more than half a million dollars to attack freedom of expression and journalism.
Villaverde is identified as one of the founders of the agency Comunik, linked to pages such as Sucia Política and Central Noticias, which are under judicial investigation for dirty campaigning.