Paraguayan president's popularity plummets amid Brazil-linked political crisis
AUGUST 14, 2019 / 2:06 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
Mariel Cristaldo
2 MIN READ
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Paraguay’s president, Mario Abdo, has reached his first year in office with a 69 percent disapproval rating amid an enduring political crisis and a significant economic slowdown, according to a survey published on Wednesday.
Abdo, who was elected by the conservative Colorado Party in April 2018 with 46 percent of the vote, narrowly avoided an impeachment vote at the start of the month over the signing of an energy pact with Brazil that opposition lawmakers said went against the country’s sovereignty.
Abdo cancelled and apologised for the deal, which related to the giant Itaipu hydroelectric plant that straddles the two countries and would have cost Paraguay around $200 million (£165.8 million) . He enjoys a close relationship with far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Opposition parties have called for public protests to put further pressure on Abdo’s government, which is also grappling with an economic slowdown caused by a fall in agricultural production and global financial turbulence.
More:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-paraguay-president/paraguayan-presidents-popularity-plummets-amid-brazil-linked-political-crisis-idUKKCN1V421I?rpc=401&
Concerning the dominant party in Paraguay:
Colorado Party (Paraguay)
1887–1989
It initially ruled the country from 1887 until 1904. In 1946, it rejoined the government, together with the Febreristas, during Higinio Moríñigo's rule as President of Paraguay.
From 1947 until 1962, the Colorado Party ruled Paraguay as a one-party state; all other political parties were illegal.[1] In 1962, all national parties were nominally legalized; the Communist Party being deemed "international" remained illegal and its adherents repressed by the Paraguayan state. During the rule of Alfredo Stroessner all members of the armed forces and government employees were required to be members of the Colorado Party. In the late 1980s, there was a rift in the party between a hardliner faction and a traditionalist faction. This rift was primarily over the issue of Stroessner's succession and was a large contributor to the 1989 coup d'état led by General Andrés Rodríguez, himself a traditionalist.[2]
In practice, however, Paraguay remained a one-party military dictatorship until the overthrow of longtime president Alfredo Stroessner in 1989. It served as one of the "twin pillars" of Stroessner's 35-year rule, one of the longest in history by a non-royal leader.[3]
Since 1989
In 2002 the National Union of Ethical Citizens split from the party.
At the legislative elections of April 27, 2003, the party won 35.3% of the popular vote (37 out of 80 seats) in the Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay and 32.9% (16 out of 45 seats) in the Senate. Its candidate at the presidential elections on the same day, Nicanor Duarte, won 37.1% of the popular vote and was elected President of Paraguay.
Originally, the Colorado Party was conservative, representing those opposed to the Liberal Party.
On April 20, 2008, for the first time in 61 years, the Colorado Party lost the presidential elections to an opposition candidate from the center-left, Fernando Lugo, a Roman Catholic bishop, a first on both accounts (free election of an opposition candidate and of a bishop to the office of president in Paraguay). The Colorado Party was represented in these elections by Blanca Ovelar, the first woman to run for the presidency. Fernando Lugo, who had resigned his bishophood and priesthood before the elections so that he could become eligible under Paraguayan law, was formally released of his vows by the Vatican before his installation as president on August 15, 2008.
According to Antonio Soljancic, a social scientist at the Autonomous University of Asunción, "in order to get a job you had to show you were a party member. The problem Paraguay has is that, although Stroessner disappeared from the political map, he left a legacy that no one has tried to bury".[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Party_(Paraguay)
You might want to scan this page:
Genocide in Paraguay.
https://www.persee.fr/doc/jsa_0037-9174_1978_num_65_1_2165_t1_0263_0000_2
Genocide of the Ache People of Paraguay Will Be Tried in Argentina
by
Rick Kearns
Aug 18, 2014
Genocide of the Ache People of Paraguay Will Be Tried in Argentina
The Ache people of Paraguay have filed a criminal complaint of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against their people by various citizens, military and officials in the Paraguayan government for their role in the displacement, murder, enslavement and rape of the Ache from the 1950s through the 70s.
Based on evidence provided by survivors as well as anthropologists, human rights advocate, attorneys, journalists, priests and others, the story of what happened to the Ache people of Paraguay was presented to the Fifth Federal Court in Argentina in April after Paraguayan officials refused to prosecute the case.
According to Aitor Martínez, a Spanish attorney who is on the legal team that had filed the charges on behalf of the National Ache Foundation, they are awaiting trial dates from Argentine Judge Norberto Oyarbide. Judge Oyarbide agreed to hear the case based on the legal principle of 'universal jurisdiction' that allows for prosecution of charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in a foreign court if the judicial system of the home country did not prosecute the case.
In a recent interview, Martínez said that then Paraguayan President Alfredo Stroessner was informed of the atrocities by Paraguayan activists, officials from the United Nations and others but President Stroessner did not take any steps to stop the violence; some testimony also alleges that Stroessner, a United States ally at the time, spent time with pre-adolescent indigenous girls who had been forced into prostitution.
Martinez pointed out that in the 52-page document entitled "Criminal Complaint of the Commission of the Crime of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in Paraguay Against the Ache People," they provide the long history of the abuses, how they were discovered and publicized by many people, and then ignored by Paraguayan, U.S., British and other governments.
Starting in the 1950s the Ache of eastern Paraguay were forced off of much of their land by ranchers and other colonists. Some colonists then staged raiding parties, invading Ache communities where they would kill male residents and abduct women and children who were then sold as slaves to wealthy Paraguayans with some of them being forced into prostitution.
More:
https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/genocide-of-the-ache-people-of-paraguay-will-be-tried-in-argentina-sxqvsbHEmEWYN7a6DUDAZA/
ETC. There's a ton to discover which has not been discused by U.S. corporate media. As mentioned, Paraguay's 35 year rule of Stroessner, extreme right-winger, was never a problem for US officials in the State Department. No one really seemed to care the US considered a fascist who gave haven to the Angel of Death of Auschwitz, Dr. Josef Mengele, sadistic torturer, human experiment conductor, super Nazi after WWII.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Jenna seemed to be the first Bush to go there, as far as any one knew through conventional US media sources, and it DID seem unexpected, seeing Dubya's daughter suddenly showing up in Paraguay! Then people started recalling that George H. W. Bush's long time friend, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon had moved a lot of his vast congregation of followers there who got to work creating an enormous encampment there directly above the Guarani Aquifer, one of the largest fresh water underground sources in the entire planet.
Here's the Wikipedia link for the Guarani Aquifer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarani_Aquifer
Later, we heard of Neil Bush, Dubya's brother, going there, too, and meeting with the President, like Jenna.
It's very strange seeing the preoccupation with water in the Bush family, as the elder Bush, George H. W. Bush, was tied to a company named "Aguas de Tunari", owned by Bechtel Energy which became quickly famous for trying to charge Bolivian citizens for the rain water they were trying to collect in barrels, since Aguas de Tunari was charging them shocking prices for household water!
Water privatization in Bolivia
Cochabamba Water War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatization_in_Bolivia
The aquifer, as mentioned in many articles, sits under Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, and water has been precious already in some places in those countries for a long time.
Privatization: Who Owns the Rain? The Fight to Control Water
https://asheham.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/privatization-who-owns-the-rain-the-fight-to-control-water/
You remember the Bushes have also been up to their noses in oil, of course.
But WATER! Next stop, AIR! Maybe their next trick will be to control the only ways of getting clean air in the future, after helping to pollute it to start with!
Just remembered, JEB Bush got hooked up to water purification systems long ago, in Nigeria, so he was also hard at work trying to make a killing from that vital resource, preying upon other very poor people, as well.
It's all so crazy, meaning crazy greedy and evil. Of course they sent their fresh-faced, young woman, Jenna out as their ambassor first, apparently, to set things in motion regarding land in Paraguay.
You probably knew these things long ago, but I included them in case there might be any readers who hadn't had time or opportunity to check on some of the horrifying details.
Regarding that secret airbase in the jungle of Paraguay, it was built during Nixon's dreadful time at the wheel, and is so large, out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by jungle, it can easily handle the largest transport airplane the U.S. military has had, all these long years! The name of the base is Mariscal Estigarribia:
