In Paraguay, the Paraguayan military is responsible for external defense and has a role in domestic security duties; it provides support for natural disasters and cooperates with the National Police and other internal security organizations in combating the Paraguayan People’s Army (Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo or EPP) and transnational criminal organizations, largely narcotics traffickers; the EPP is a small, domestic criminal/guerrilla group operating in the rural northern part of the country along the border with Brazil; the activities of the EPP and its offshoots—Marsical López’s Army (EML) and the Armed Peasant Association (ACA)—have consisted largely of isolated attacks on remote police and army posts, or against ranchers and peasants accused of aiding Paraguayan security forces

the Paraguayan military has deployed small numbers of troops on UN peacekeeping missions and cooperates with neighboring countries, such as Argentina and Brazil, on security issues, particularly organized crime and narco-trafficking in what is known as the Tri-Border Area; Paraguay has not fought a war against a neighboring country since the Chaco War with Bolivia in the 1930s (2025)