Paraguay's leftist president ousted by Congress
Source: Reuters
By Daniela Desantis and Guido Nejamkis
ASUNCION | Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:31pm EDT
(Reuters) - Paraguay's Congress removed President Fernando Lugo from office on Friday after a lightning-quick impeachment that he said was tantamount to a coup but pledged to accept.
Lugo, a silver-haired former Roman Catholic bishop who quit the Church to run for president, was found guilty of mishandling armed clashes over a land eviction in which 17 police and peasant farmers were killed last week.
Lugo's election four years ago on promises he would champion the needs of poor Paraguayans raised high hopes in the landlocked, soy-exporting nation, but his reform agenda stalled due to the opposition's grip on Congress.
Political allies deserted him as criticism mounted over last week's bloodshed in the rural northeast, and the Senate voted 39-4 to oust him on Friday, a day after the lower house set the impeachment proceedings in motion.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/23/us-paraguay-idUSBRE85L16M20120623
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directly above the largest body of underground water,Guarani Aquifer, in this hemisphere, and, has been speculated, possibly the largest in the world.
Paraguay is also home to this peculiar airstrip, built so large it can easily handle the largest transport planes in the U.S. military. out in the middle of NOWHERE, surrounded by jungle in every direction.
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Mariscal Estigarribia air base[/center]
It was built during the 40 year reign of fascist, genocidal monster dicator Alfredo Stroessner, who murdered villages of indigenous people, burned them to the ground, made slaves of selected survivors, same fascist monster who gave shelter, as you remember, to the absolutely evil Nazi Dr. Mengele after the end of WWII. The U.S. never cut off material support to the dictator throughout his reign of real terror.
From SourceWatch:
U.S. secret military operations
"Controversy is raging in Paraguay, where the U.S. military is conducting secretive operations. 500 U.S. troops arrived in the country on July 1st with planes, weapons and ammunition," Toward Freedom's Benjamin Dangl wrote September 15, 2005. "Eyewitness reports prove that an airbase exists in Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay, which is 200 kilometers from the border with Bolivia and may be utilized by the U.S. military. Officials in Paraguay claim the military operations are routine humanitarian efforts and deny that any plans are underway for a U.S. base. Yet human rights groups in the area are deeply worried. White House officials are using rhetoric about terrorist threats in the tri-border region (where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet) in order to build their case for military operations, in many ways reminiscent to the build up to the invasion of Iraq."
~snip~
Mariscal Estigarribia airbase
"The Estigarribia airbase was constructed in the 1980s for U.S. technicians hired by the Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, and is capable of housing 16,000 troops," Dangl wrote. "A journalist writing for the Argentine newspaper Clarin, recently visited the base and reported it to be in perfect condition, capable of handling large military planes. It’s oversized for the Paraguayan air force, which only has a handful of small aircraft. The base has an enormous radar system, huge hangars and an air traffic control tower. The airstrip itself is larger than the one at the international airport in Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital. Near the base is a military camp which has recently grown in size."
Criminal Immunity
"On May 26, 2005 the Paraguayan Senate granted the U.S. troops total immunity from national and International Criminal Court jurisdiction until December 2006. The legislation is automatically extendable. Since December 2004, the U.S. has been pressuring Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Paraguay into signing a deal which would grant immunity to U.S. military. The Bush administration threatened to deny the countries up to $24.5 million in economic and military aid if they refused to sign the immunity deal." Dangl wrote.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S._military_presence_in_Paraguay
The rightwing Colorado Party ruled Paraguay for 60 years, including a heinous rightwing dictatorship. During that time, Paraguay became a haven for yet more rightwing monsters--so notorious a haven that the name "Paraguay" has become a joke whenever there are rumors that our own criminal leaders might (har-har) end up in a courtroom somewhere.
These same folks are all concerned about a protest turning violent and people getting killed? Not.
Bishop Lugo's campaign for president was thought to be hopeless because of the traditional fractiousness of the leftist parties in Paraguay. But he won, by a big majority, due to his personal popularity and probably due, to some extent, to the historic leftist democracy movement that had swept strong leftist leaders into power all over South America--in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Venezuela, Chile (at that time) and recently Peru--who formed a very strong alliance on trade and political issues and created new institutions (UNASUR, all South American countries; CELAC, all Latin American countries, and others) to implement common goals such as social justice, independence from the U.S. and "south-south" trade.
Paraguay (still under the Colorado Party) had begun changing its laws to better conform with this historic movement even before Lugo was elected. For instance, they had already rescinded their non-extradition law (which had made them the laughingstock of the world as to harboring fascist criminals), and their law immunizing U.S. troops. (Lugo's subsequent refusal of U.S. troops on the ground in Paraguay may have been a factor in his ouster. See below.)
It appeared, on the surface, that Paraguay's rightwing had become more realistic and wanted Paraguay to participate in the remarkable new prosperity and well-being that these leftist governments were creating within their countries and in the region. But apparently Paraguay's fascists were just biding their time, waiting for an excuse to impeach Lugo.
He easily weathered the controversy about his having a common law wife and children. Lugo spent his entire life in stark poverty, living with and advocating for the poor, and is the genuine article, as to being an almost saintly advocate of the poor. But then he contracted cancer--lymphoma. I don't know which kind, whether fatal or not, but lymphoma is no joke in either case. And his ill health may well have weakened his ability to hold his coalition together and to do all the day-to-day tasks of governing (for instance, keeping control of what may well have been hostile forces in the military and the police). At the time that Lugo was elected, he did not carry the legislature with him. It remained dominated by the fascist powers-that-be. It looks very like his weakened state (physical health) may have provided them with their opportunity to capitalize on this incident and to cozen votes for it among the weak, fractious leftists in the legislature, who are perhaps driven by untoward ambition.
My larger suspicions about this are as follows: That the incident was manufactured. (This would be typical of both the rightwing and the U.S. in Latin America.) That, a) the transglobal corporations and war profiteers, whom the U.S. government serves, want control of the aquifer (the biggest aquifer in South America) including Paraguay's hydroelectric infrastructure (to profiteer from basic needs such as water and electricity, and to have blackmail power over countries that import hydroelectric power from Paraguay, all with leftist governments), b) This is the main reason why the Bushwhacks manufactured a "terrorist threat" in the Tri-border region to get U.S. troops on the ground in Paraguay (U.S. and Paraguayan troops were conducting joint maneuvers prior to Lugo)--i.e., first come U.S. troops and Pentagon/DEA hegemony, then comes "privatization," et al, and c) Since Lugo is the obstacle to many U.S. government services to transglobal corporations and war profiteers, Lugo had to go, thus the coup.
Lugo's problem as president has been that he is far more genuinely a saint than a politician. That is probably why he abdicated immediately--to prevent a civil war in Paraguay, which surely could have occurred (and may still). In fact, this may have been the immediate object of the coup--a VERY typical U.S./CIA/rightwing ploy, in LatAm and worldwide--to create chaos, violence, mayhem, by which to destroy democracy and gain power. Lugo is VERY popular. The vast poor majority in Paraguay--the poorest country in South America--would have defended him, probably mostly peacefully, and many would have been killed. Of all the pro-peace leftist leaders in Latin America, he is the most pro-peace. This is fundamental to his character. He was the most reluctant presidential candidate, ever, and only agreed to run for president when it became clear that he was the ONLY leader in Paraguay who could rally that majority.
His quick abdication is yet more reason to believe that the violent protest incident was manufactured. Probably he understands that it was manufactured and he wants to prevent yet more manufactured violence.
From what we can know so far, this was a coup d'etat. The right--which couldn't care less about dead protestors or police--used that incident to throw him out--rather than, say, investigate the incident and recommend the firing of those immediately responsible for it, or censuring him if he didn't act, or taking other actions appropriate to a legislature, particularly in regard to a president whom the vast majority of voters support. Their action was precipitous, and shocking, and way out of proportion to the cause. An overnight impeachment and removal from office for an incident that the president surely did not instigate--with no airing of evidence and testimony?
This serves the interests of the local wealthy landowners, who want to keep bombarding their peasant farm workers with pesticides (Lugo strongly opposed this, as a bishop and as president) and who want to keep paying shit wages and who have fought brutally for sixty years to keep the poor out of the government. (Lugo appointed advocates of the poor and women to high government offices.) And it serves the interests of the Pentagon and the U.S. government and its transglobal corporate masters, who want the Left in South America broken, to gain control of South America's rich resources and to create slave labor pools. This coup potentially provides them with a base of operations right in the heart of Leftist South America.
I mourn for Paraguay's democracy, and especially for the poor majority in Paraguay. If this coup follows the dreadful path of the one in Honduras, they are in for a rough time, indeed. Lugo was very likely thinking about Honduras--and its president Mel Zelaya's effort to regain his rightful office--when he abdicated so quickly. Zelaya failed, and all of Latin America--despite strenuous efforts by Brazil in particular--couldn't right that situation. Since then, many peaceful protestors against the Honduran coup have been murdered, many have been imprisoned and tortured, and the mayhem--including "war on drugs" mayhem--has greatly escalated. (And the Pentagon is building new bases in Honduras--surprise, surprise--and everything is being "privatized."
Although there is a much stronger Left surrounding Paraguay, in the South American region, than there was surrounding Honduras in Central America--and this may make a big difference in Paraguay's situation--the parallel is certainly haunting. I'm sure that Lugo doesn't want Paraguay to become Honduras. In fact, that is probably the key reason that he abdicated so quickly--hoping that a peaceful and just outcome can be negotiated.
