ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay — Before being allowed inside the Paraguay jail cell of a notorious drug kingpin, I braced for an intrusive pat down. But the skinny guard standing just outside the bars barely touched me as he briskly ran his hands down my arms and back.

I was at the prison to interview Marcelo Pinheiro Veiga, who had resorted to an audacious gambit to resist being extradited to his native Brazil: He had confessed to a litany of crimes committed in Paraguay.

After the perfunctory search, I entered the small cell and sat about a foot away from Mr. Veiga, close enough to notice his breath smelled fresh.

“Paraguay is the land of impunity,” Mr. Veiga told me after describing a long criminal career that led him to become one of the major smugglers of arms and drugs from Paraguay to Brazil.