Paraguay votes to elect successor to Lugo

[Catherina]

Paraguay votes to elect successor to Lugo


VOTING has started in Paraguay in an election which is considered crucial to restoring the country's international relations after the speedy impeachment of president Fernando Lugo 10 months ago.


Voting started in Paraguay in an election that's considered crucial to it's international relations. Source: AAP

Polling stations opened at 1100 GMT (2100 AEST) on Sunday and were set to close nine hours later. The first preliminary official results were expected to be known about two hours after voting ends.

....

After Lugo's exit in June 2012, Paraguay was suspended from membership of both the South American trade bloc Mercosur and the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) because the country's neighbours thought the impeachment was in fact an "institutional coup."

Paraguay is expected to be re-admitted to both groups at the latest after the new president is inaugurated on August 15.

...

More than 300 international observers deployed by the Organisation of American States (OAS), Unasur, the European Union and other institutions are to keep watch over the election.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/paraguay-votes-to-elect-successor-to-lugo/story-fn3dxix6-1226625470819

Note: UNASUR, and also Mercosur I believe, announced that Paraguay should not count on automatic re-entry. The reinstatement is dependent on "the existence of a new government resulting from free and transparent elections" in Paraguay.

Paraguay's Return to UNASUR to Remain Conditional After Elections


Asuncion, Apr 19 (Prensa Latina) The possible return of Paraguay to the Union of Southern Nations (Unasur) will still remain conditional even after the presidential elections on Sunday.

This position was reflected in statements made today by Salomon Lerner, Head of the Unasur High Level Group for Paraguay.

Lerner is here at the head of a group of 44 Unasur observers to analyze the course of the presidential elections in Paraguay, a country suspended from Unasur and Mercosur because of its parliamentary coup in June 2011, by means of which constitutional president Fernando Lugo was removed and replaced by the government of Federico Franco.

Lerner told the TeleSur television network that the lifting of the sanctions against Paraguay will be determined by what happens before, during and after the vote and referred to the start of work by the new Paraguayan Parliament on July 15.

....

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1329471&Itemid=1

Also see: Vote-buying video causes stir ahead of Paraguay poll

[Catherina]

1. Fernando Lugo Votes, Denounced Irregularities in Paraguay

Fernando Lugo Votes, Denounced Irregularities in Paraguay

Asuncion, Apr 21 (Prensa Latina) Toppled constitutional President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, exercised his vote today ad ratified denunciations about irregularities affecting Guasu Front, a coalition of left-wing parties and organizations.

Lugo voted at 7:00 local time accompanied by Anibal Carrillo, the presidential candidate of the Front and numerous followers, in the presence of international observers and journalists.

In brief remarks to journalists, Lugo denounced the exclusion in several departments against Guasu Front observers, and accused judicial and electoral authorities of those departments for permitting it.

...

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1334481&Itemid=1

[Judi Lynn]

8. Worth taking a long hard squint at this:

Latin America resists coup in Paraguay
By Berta Joubert-Ceci
Published Jun 27, 2012 9:28 PM

~snip~
Role of U.S. government
& transnational agribusiness

According to a report Wikileaks released, the U.S. Embassy knew of the possibilities of a coup against Lugo as early as 2009. The report shows that then Vice President Franco spoke with the U.S. ambassador about the possibility of a coup and about his disagreement with Lugo. (elintransigente.com, June 25)

In another concession to the right-wing, Lugo nominated Rubén Candia from the Colorado Party to replace Filizzola as interior minister after the June 15 massacre. Candia was justice minister under right-wing President Nicanor Duarte (2003-2008).

In the article “Monsanto golpea en Paraguay: Los muertos de Curuguaty y el juicio político a Lugo” (“Monsanto hits Paraguay: The dead of Curuguaty and the political trial of Lugo”) published at ­rebelion.org, Paraguayan political journalist and author of the book “Los Herederos de Stroessner” (“Stroessner’s Heirs”) Idilio Méndez Grimaldi wrote that Candia was “accused of having promoted repression against leaders of peasant organizations and popular movements. Candia’s nomination to ­Attorney General in 2005 was approved by the then Ambassador of the United States, John F. Keen. Candia was responsible for an increased control by USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development)of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and was accused in the early days of his government by Fernando Lugo for conspiring against him to remove him from office.”

The U.S.-based transnational giant Monsanto is implicated in the events in Paraguay. Monsanto planned to introduce a genetically modified seed for commercial use in the country. Under Lugo’s administration, Paraguay’s National Service for Plants and Seeds Quality and Health (SENAVE) refused to approve the seed’s use.

The right-wing oligarchs favor the dissemination of Monsanto seeds, while the peasantry has been demonstrating against it. The Union of Associations of Producers, a landowners group tied to Monsanto, was preparing a demonstration for June 25 against Lugo to benefit the giant transnational and the “liberalization” of its genetically modified seeds. Obviously, they do not need to protest at this point.

More:
http://www.workers.org/2012/world/paraguay_0705/

[ocpagu]

2. Let's hope they chose...

... the less destructive of the options with chances of winning.

I somehow have a feeling that Paraguay will soon become the new "model" of country for some exotic "progressive" on DU...

[Bacchus4.0]

3. Horacio Cartes: Millionaire. Criminal. Business titan. Homophobe. The next president of Paraguay?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/horacio-cartes-millionaire-criminal-business-titanhomophobe-the-next-president-of-paraguay-8580851.html

Horacio Cartes leads in the polls for Sunday’s presidential elections in Paraguay. Campaign posters in the landlocked nation’s capital, Asuncion, show his beaming face above a slogan declaring “a new direction” for the country. But detractors of the millionaire Colorado Party candidate offer a different vision: a man mixed up in a host of illicit activities, including drug trafficking. A man who represents big business and corruption.

Mr Cartes is one of Paraguay’s most influential figures. Over the past two decades the businessman has built up a powerful empire. He owns some 25 companies, spanning the drinks industry, meat production and tobacco, employing thousands. Since 2001, he has also been president of Libertad football club. But damning allegations continue to swirl.

“Cartes has bought farms, a drinks bottling company and a football team,” says Chiqui Avalos, author of The Other Side of HC, an exposé of the leader. “He has also bought a political party and now he might be able to buy a country. This would be terrible.”

The most serious smear against the 56-year-old involves drug trafficking and contraband cigarettes. In 2011, WikiLeaks cables originating from the US embassy in Buenos Aires placed him at the centre of a drugs and money-laundering network operating out of the lawless frontier with Argentina and Brazil. Mr Cartes has publicly denied the allegations and says he has received assurances from the embassy that the US Drugs Enforcement Agency and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are conducting no investigations against him, something the cables allege.

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here is the front runner. Other than business titan, he seems to share the same characteristics as the Ven leadership.

[ocpagu]

4. Pretty bad, isn't it?

Almost as bad as Uribe, which you praise as the "savior" of Colombia...

[Bacchus4.0]

5. We'll have to see how Paraguayans vote

and the next president's performance in office won't we?

[ocpagu]

6. Don't think so.

Right-wingers are predictable.

[Judi Lynn]

7. You've got that right. They are nothing but predictable, Predictable, rigid, clowns

who are wildly out of touch with the human race.

They are uninspired, without character, self-centered, greedy, close-minded, full of hatred.

Of course, they do have some faults, too, just like human beings often do!