Puzzled By The Meaning Of "Habilitada".............

Hi !

I have run across a great many South American and Spanish influenced stamps that have the overprint "Habilitada". The translations I've come across indicate "authorized" - which I interpret as being "official postage" for governmental use. Yet, many of these same countries do use an overprint of "Official" or the like.

Is there a difference, or as I suspect, is there more to it?

Thank you!

Paraguayan stamps have been a good example of this.

Here "habiltado" means "authorised/valid (for postage)" converting official or postage due stamps for regular postage or as part of a surcharge as in "habiltado en 5 centavos", i.e. "authorised/valid for 5c".

I had the same question

Excellent and clear answer

Hi again,
OK, I confess I'm not sure I understand Nigelc's explanation.

Does it mean that with the addition of "habiltado" to official or postage due stamps, they can then be used for regular postage. Why was this done? Would it be due to an overprinting of official/pd stamps?

And

The "habilitado" overprint can also be the prelude to a surcharge. Would this do double duty and also make said stamps be moved from official/pd to regular postage?

Thank you!