Lugo's missteps eroded fragile support in Paraguay

[Bacchus4.0]

http://news.yahoo.com/lugos-missteps-eroded-fragile-support-paraguay-093253466.html

....ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — The alliance that voted Fernando Lugo out of the Paraguayan presidency was an unlikely marriage of the country's two main political parties, rivals who had long checked each other's powers in Congress.

Although subject to deadly persecution just three decades ago, the Liberal Party joined with its former persecutors, the Colorados, last week to push an impeachment that has a widespread criticism. What made that possible was another political trend in this impoverished, landlocked country, the disenchantment of hundreds of thousands of leftists and poor farmers who had formed the president's political base.

Many who had once seen the former bishop as their champion were increasingly put off by his missteps and sparse accomplishments. The final disappointment came earlier this month, when Lugo showed seeming indifference to the deaths of landless protesters in a firefight with police over a land dispute.

The end game concluded Friday, when in Lugo's hour of need, the kinds of huge protests that could have pressured Congress to back down and perhaps even saved his presidency never materialized. Instead, the lower house voted 76-1 to impeach on Thursday, and the Senate gave Lugo the boot with a 39-4 vote after a fast-track trial the next day.

[joshcryer]

1. They needed a scapegoat lest the entire system come down.

IMO.