Friday, June 22, 2012

Paraguay's Congress ousts Lugo, vice-president sworn in

Paraguay’s Senate voted to remove President Fernando Lugo from office yesterday in lightning impeachment proceedings, and the former priest said he would leave even though he considered his ouster as a blow to democracy.

After the five-hour trial, 39 senators dismissed the former Roman Catholic “bishop of the poor,” while four senators voted against and two were absent. Moments later, Vice-President Federico Franco of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party was sworn in as president.

“I say goodbye as president,” Lugo said shortly after the Senate vote. He said Paraguay’s democracy “has been deeply wounded.”

Crowds of pro-Lugo protesters took to the streets condemning the impeachment and expressing support for the president. Police in anti-riot gear drove them back on horseback and using water cannons.

Paraguay’s Lower House of Congress voted to impeach Lugo on Thursday. The Senate tried him on five charges of malfeasance in office, including an alleged role in a deadly confrontation between police and landless farmers that left 17 dead.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro, who travelled to Paraguay ahead of the vote as part of a delegation from the Unasur regional bloc, denounced it as a “new type of coup.”

“A truly shameful act has been committed,” Maduro told reporters.

Lugo decided not to attend the trial, instead watching on television from the presidential palace while his lawyers spoke on his behalf.

The Senate rejected a request by his lawyers for a period of 18 days to prepare their arguments. The Senate’s president, Jorge Oviedo, said there were no grounds for such a request.

Under the country’s laws, Franco is now to serve out the rest of Lugo’s term, which ends in August 2013. The 51-year-old Franco has political experience as a former state governor and at first had been part of a political alliance that supported Lugo.

As protesters paraded through the streets, many schools shut down in Asunción, and downtown shops closed their doors as a precaution.

Some said Lugo’s quick acceptance appeared likely to avert a more severe and potentially bloody crisis.

“He seems to have handled it very well, considering he had no real opportunity to mount a defence. So far his actions have probably prevented violence,” said Stephen Johnson, director of the Americas Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“When all the dust settles, Paraguay will need to amend its impeachment procedures to assure a more transparent orderly process. Presidential removal is an area where many Latin American constitutions are weak.”

The president also was tried on four other accusations. They include that he improperly allowed for leftist parties to hold a political meeting in an army base in 2009; that he allowed about 3,000 squatters to illegally invade a large Brazilian-owned soybean farm; that his government failed to capture members of a guerrilla group, the Paraguayan People’s Army, which carries out extortion kidnappings and occasional attacks on police; and that he signed an international protocol without properly submitting it to Congress for approval.

“Today Fernando Lugo is not dismissed,” the ousted president said shortly after the Senate vote. “Paraguay’s democracy has been deeply wounded.”

Lugo said he accepted the decision of opposition-controlled Congress, even though he was denied due right of defence. But stopped short of calling it a coup.

The last time a Paraguayan leader was impeached was in 1999 when Raul Cubas was accused of failing to fulfill his duties following the murder of the vice president and the killing of seven protesters. Cubas resigned before a verdict was reached.