Paraguayan President Ousted: Another Right-Wing Coup in Latin America

[marmar]

Paraguayan President Ousted: Another Right-Wing Coup in Latin America


Leftist Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo said he was ousted in a “parliamentary coup” — the latest of the right-wing coups in Latin America. This past Friday, the Paraguayan Senate voted 39 to 4 in favor of impeaching and removing Lugo, a politician known for defending peasant rights and aiming to improve life for the working class. Lugo ended more than 60 years of right-wing rule when elected in 2008.

A recent riot over peasant land triggered Lugo’s removal. Two months ago, a group of 60 peasant farmers occupied land that was taken away from them 40 years ago during dictator-rule and given to a wealth landowner. On June 15, when law enforcement officials entered the camp to talk to the peasants, a riot ensued that left 11 peasants and 6 police officers dead. Police surrounded and closed the area off to human rights advocates, and then ultimately burned the site down, clearing all evidence. The next day, a group of family members, activists, and journalists went to the site and found two peasant bodies and war weapons — these are not used by peasants and are believed to be those of another group.

Right-wingers in the government began threatening Lugo with impeachment for failing to keep public order, and caused him to negotiate and fire his interior minister and national director of police and replace them with right-wing officials. This angered the Liberal Party, which joined with the right-wingers to impeach Lugo. During the quick five-hour impeachment trial, Lugo had only two hours to defend himself.

Today, Democracy Now! reported that a 2009 WikiLeaks cable revealed that U.S. officials knew that right-wing forces were looking for an opportunity to remove Lugo. The cable described their "goal" as: "Capitalize on any Lugo missteps to break the political deadlock in Congress, impeach Lugo and assure their own political supremacy." ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/991669/paraguayan_president_ousted%3A_another_right-wing_coup_in_latin_america/

[Octafish]

1. A big victory for the 1-percent.

Lugo infuriated the group that owns 99-percent of Paraguay and the NAZIs that support them.



Here, the Elite's very own Neil Bush steps around outside the presidential palace
with his then-new friend, former Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte.
Lugo's predecessor wanted to change Paraguay's constitution to allow him to run for a second term.
As current events show, it's never too late, for friends of the Bush network.
With help from Rev Moon's Swiss bank account and Poppy Bush's swell friends,
that could easily be arranged.

¿¡Paraguay!? ... !¿Por que no?!

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