Leftist ex-bishop ends Colorado Party rule in Paraguay: exit polls

[JohnnyCougar]

Source: AFP

ASUNCION (AFP) — Leftist coalition leader and former bishop Fernando Lugo won Paraguay's presidential vote Sunday, trouncing rival Blanca Ovelar by 43-37 percent and ending her Colorado Party's 61-year rule in the country, according to exit polls.

Lino Oviedo, 64, a retired army chief who helped stage a coup that ended the 35-year military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, was in third place with 16 percent of the vote, according to the poll by ABC/Nanduti radio.

An Ultima Hora/Coin/Telefuturo exit poll gave Lugo's Patriotic Alliance for Change 40.1 percent of the vote to 37.2 for Ovelar.

There is no runoff vote in Paraguay.

Read more: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hL-uFf-4fkRqLVv2lRQCSaMpJXuA

---

Now all we have to do is wait and see how much fraud kicks in. We know Lugo is the new legitimate president of Paraguay. Horray!!

[eleny]

1. I wonder what will happen with Bush's 100k acre Paraguayan "ranch"

[JohnnyCougar]

2. If I were Bush, I wouldn't be seen anywhere down there.

Hopefully, his land will get redistributed.

[KamaAina]

43. ?Como se dice en espanol "eminent domain"?

Same goes for the Moonies' spread next door.

[Lost4words]

55. Wouldnt it be nice,Lugo hands dimson over to the Hague!!

God please hear my prayer!

8643

[gratuitous]

3. Funny things happen between the exit polls and the official count

And when a Bush has some skin in the game, you damn betcha there's going to be some jiggery pokery with the final numbers.

[arcos]

4. Official results, with 22% in...

Lugo 41.16%
Ovelar 32.82%
Oviedo 22.6%

Source: CNN en Español

[non sociopath skin]

5. Nice to reminded that democracy works.

The Skin

[Judi Lynn]

6. Thank you, arcos! n/t

[jamesinca]

45. What have I missed

Judi Lynn did you go on vacation? Are you retired from the DU? How did somebody post a South American politics story before you? Then you only chimed in as the #6 post, what has happened to this world! I search S.A. politics on here by putting in your name, not a topic. I depend on you for that.

Hope all is well with you and yours:hi:

[Judi Lynn]

46. Ha HA! It happened because arcos shouted, "Look, there's Hugo Chavez! Get him, GET HIM!"

By the time I realized it was a trick, arcos already nailed the article. I think he cheats by being bi-lingual! He has access to twice as many sources!

What a story! The world seems healthier already.

We should create our own pool here to bet on whom we expect is going to come forward to savage Lugo the first time! Maybe we should even have a ceremony, with flowers, champagne, fireworks! I'm sure we've all got our own favorites we'll be rooting for!

Speaking of vacations, I haven't seen YOUR name for a while! Hope you're doing well, and your loved ones, as well. Thanks. :hi:

[jamesinca]

52. Thanks for noticing

We were down 25,000+ to the Repubs here 21 months ago. We are now down 10.8K in Fresno Co. (home of Free Republic). And in spite of the CA Dem party I now have the VAN at my disposal. My eyes feel like they are going to bleed sometimes, I forget what school or what grade my kids are in sometimes, but we are beating the Republicans finally. Cuts into my DU time dam it!! But me and mine are fine otherwise.

[struggle4progress]

7. Lugo, Ex Bishop, Wins Paraguay Presidential Election (Update1)

By Eliana Raszewski and Bill Faries

April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, won Paraguay's presidential election, ending 61 years of rule by the Colorado Party in the landlocked South American country, according to preliminary official results.

Lugo, who heads the Patriotic Alliance for Change, won 39.2 percent of the votes. Blanca Ovelar, a candidate for the Colorado Party, the party with the longest period in power in the world, was second with 32.7 percent and former General Lino Oviedo was third with 21.4 percent, according to the results from 24 percent of polling stations, the Election Court said on its Web site. The candidate with the most votes wins, regardless of the margin of victory ...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ayZvS3xuEF9M&refer=home

[gateley]

8. This is GREAT news!

Those employed by the government are forced to vote for the Colorado Party, or else face financial/employment consequences. Plus, the Colorado party was paying people to vote, and bribing them with cell phones (!).

A lot of very brave people made a stand.

Edit to add: POWER TO THE PEOPLE! :headbang:

[Peace Patriot]

9. This is a big blow to Bushite war plans in S/A and a huge plus for the Paraguayan people!

Hoorah! For Fernando Lugo! For the people of Paraguay in their first truly democratic election! And for the OAS, the Carter Center and others who have worked on transparent, honest elections in South America!


:party: :bounce: :yourock: :thumbsup: :yourock: :bounce: :party: :hi: :party: :kick: :loveya: :headbang: :hug: :party: :bounce: :thumbsup: :yourock: :bounce: :party: :grouphug: :yourock:

[JohnnyCougar]

11. Yeah, it's time to party. A few networks have already declared Lugo the winner.

:party: :party: :party: :toast:

[New Dawn]

10. K&R

[David__77]

12. A victory for a democratic, sovereign, social Latin America!

I am happy, this will help smooth Latin American integration and defense.

[Peace Patriot]

13. A couple of nice pix

at
http://www.vivaparaguay.com/modules/news/

http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=13104&formato=HTML

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7357874.stm

[Judi Lynn]

29. What a fine collection of smiles!

From the "viva paraguay" link

From an editorial comment at the link, after being subjected to the google translation tool:

POLITICAL PARAGUAY: Lu SL ELECTO BREAK AND RED HEGEMONÍA
Posted by admin on 20/4/2008 20:51:58 (28 reads)

The surveys mouth urn and preliminary results give the winner and former bishop representative of the left, Fernando Lugo, in the elections that took place on Sunday in Paraguay. Both Lugo and his rivals have already confirmed the result. The leader of Patriotic Alliance for Change invited tonight to bet on Paraguay.

"When it formally ratifies the results, we will be open to build real integration in the region, the continent and the world," said Lugo, in statements obtained by ABC Digital.

Lugo would break with 60 years of domination of Colorado Party Guarani. "A few months ago a group of Paraguayan dreamed it could be, we could together and put the country first," said Lugo. "I would like to first thank all the people who so impeccable Paraguayans have participated in the elections" despite "has been frightened, to be acts of violence," he added.

According to the preliminary data of the electoral body, the former cleric gets 36.5% of the votes, the colourful Blanca Ovelar gets 34.8% of the vote and Lino Oviedo reached 22.4% of the votes.

Followers of Lugo already started to celebrate and former bishop was greeted with applause and alive to reach the command center where I extend a short press conference at 19.30. "I want to say one very short sentence. You are guilty of the joy of the majority of the Paraguayan people," said Lugo before about 300 people. "Thank you for joining us in this modest experience. Today we can say that small are also trained to overcome. And finally I would like to say that this is the dream that I Paraguay."

The surveys to mouth urn of all media to give as winner Lugo. According to the newspaper La Nacion Fernando Lugo would 41,2,4%, Blanca Ovelar 35.2%, 19.1% Lino Oviedo, and Pedro Fadul 4.5%. According Ñandutí Radio and ABC Color, Lugo is 43%, Blanca Ovelar, 37%, Lino Oviedo, 16%, and Pedro Fadul, 3%.

They confirmed the triumph of Lugo all countries that make up the Mercosur governments would have left.

The Paraguayan president Juan Carlos Wasmosy (1993-1998), in statements to the 780 AM radio in that country, and acknowledged the deroota the Colorado Party, which he described as "catasfrófica."

[Peace Patriot]

32. "mouth urn" = exit polls??? That's hilarious!

One Googlism I think I can sort out...

"They confirmed the triumph of Lugo all countries that make up the Mercosur governments would have left."

I'm pretty sure this means that, with Lugo's triumph, all of the members of Mercosur (South American trade group) now have leftist governments.

The reported results--the exit polls, and various reports of the vote count--seem to vary quite a bit. Some say a Lugo win by 10%, others 6%. 41%-43% is a pretty big win (in a multi-candidate race). It's bigger than the pre-election polls predicted. I hope the left wins big in the national legislature as well, so he has some cooperation in reforming the country. He's got a corrupt, entrenched mess of 60 years to clean up.

[Peace Patriot]

34. Note: The consensus seems to be he won by a 10% margin. I just read the

latest reports--and, see below, the Colorado Party no longer has a majority in the Senate (although the report is not detailed enough to know who the majority consists of--they have a lot of parties in Paraguay).

[Peace Patriot]

14. Indigenous woman may be first in Paraguay Senate, ever....

Indigenous Woman on Course for Paraguay's Senate
David Vargas
Inter Press Service (IPS)
Fri., Apr. 18, 2008

ASUNCION, Apr 17 (IPS) - An indigenous woman has an excellent chance of winning a seat in Congress for the first time in the history of Paraguay, in Sunday's general elections.

Margarita Mbyvangi, a "cacique" or tribal chief of the Ache people, is second on the list of Senate candidates for Tekojoja (Equality), a left-wing movement belonging to the opposition alliance backing former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo, the presidential candidate who is leading the polls. (MORE)

http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/159898/1/


-----

Informative article. Nice photo, too.

[JohnnyCougar]

15. That's a great article!

Good read. I sent it to my mom.

[Judi Lynn]

38. It was a day for breakthroughs, wasn't it? Wonderful news. Yes, that's a great photo.

She looks like a completely honest, decent person: a rare sight among political figures.

Being able to have survived her life to this point indicates she's an amazingly strong human being. She'll need all that strength from now on, too.

Hope people will take time to read this amazing article. Thanks.

[bluesmail]

16. another domino. There's consequences to be paid for voting

for an opposition party. I wonder what form retaliation takes, the citizens of Paraguay seem to be in union, they are pre prepared for what's coming next. Great News.

[Stinky The Clown]

17. American news sources are citing a neck and neck race

How odd

Not

[Peace Patriot]

20. AP says he has an 8 point lead with about Ohalf the returns counted, and exit polls

gave him a 6 point win. I think it's all over.

"With 6,150 of about 14,000 polling sites counted, Lugo had 40 percent to 32 for Ovelar and 22 for Oviedo, election officials said. Four exit polls also showed Lugo winning by margins ranging from 3 to 6 percentage points. The polls had margins of error of 2 percentage points."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gAtkI6svsGoIegUVETkVwCJ9QYUgD905TEEG0

Ovelar hasn't conceded yet, however. And AP's headline is cautious ("Paraguay ex-bishop leads early returns"). But other news orgs are saying he won.

[Peace Patriot]

18. A bunch of pix here...

http://news.google.com/?ncl=1151739428&hl=en&topic=w&q=&ie=UTF-8&ned=us&imv=1

[InfiniteNether]

19. Well, that sucks for us. Bush may just decide to stay in office now. Probably due to

a convenient catastrophic terrorist attack which brings about martial law.

[The Doctor.]

21. Beautiful. K+R

Now, combine this with Obama stating that he'd direct his AG to investigate war crimes...

[Doctor_J]

22. The whole world is moving left, except the US and Israel, and China

I wish I were going to be around to see how this century ends. It will be interesting

[otherlander]

23. Yep.

All the countries are moving left except for the ones with nukes. :)

Oh, wait...

That's not good.

:yoiks:

[Doctor_J]

41. I am beginning to believe I WILL be around for our next Civil War

though. I think I could live with that. We might all be speaking Chinese by 2100, if the neocons aren't booted from office and imprisoned soon.

[JohnnyCougar]

25. France, Italy and South Korea just elected conservatives

France, of all people. They fucking elected Sarkozy for god's sakes. Those idiots. They have no right to bash us over Bush anymore. They need to get their shit together and vote him out in four years.

[New Dawn]

30. I've heard that Puppet Sarkozy is already quite unpopular.

In fact, the left did well in the recent local elections.

[Radical Activist]

24. More Bush backlash in Latin America.

Great.

[CADEMOCRAT7]

26. Historic

there is a peace corp volunteeer there who has posted on DU:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x353820

[Judi Lynn]

27. Paraguay leftist ex-bishop ends ruling party's 61-year reign

Paraguay leftist ex-bishop ends ruling party's 61-year reign
50 minutes ago

ASUNCION (AFP) — Leftist former bishop Fernando Lugo won a historic presidential election in Paraguay on Sunday as he defeated ruling party candidate Blanca Ovelar to end 61 years of Colorado Party domination.

Lugo was declared the winner by the Electoral Tribunal with 41 percent of the vote compared to 31 percent for Ovelar, crushing her dream of becoming the South American country's first woman president.

"Today we can dream of a different country," Lugo, 56, told reporters. "Paraguay will simply not be remembered for its corruption and poverty, but for its honesty."

Ovelar, whose party has been in power since 1947, conceded defeat before the final results were released.

More:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iyWwM7_NNLl-i1CmwHZc6LWY_SKA

[Judi Lynn]

28. OAS congratulates Paraguay on general elections

OAS congratulates Paraguay on general elections
www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-21 10:05:20

BUENOS AIRES, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Organization of American States (OAS) Sunday congratulated Paraguay on the massive attendance in its general election.

"We want to congratulate Paraguayans for the civism lesson they gave," said OAS's electoral observation mission chief Maria Emma Mejia.

According to Asuncion's news, Mejia said that the elections were carried out calmly therefore it was possible to anticipate that people would remain calm despite results.

Only a few isolated incidents occurred during the elections in certain voting booths, and OAS will closely watch the vote count, she added.

Electoral Justice's Superior Court officials said that some 70 percent of registered voters participated in the Sunday's election, surpassing 2003's election attendance, 67 percent.

More:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/21/content_8019715.htm

[Peace Patriot]

31. I'm glad to see a 10% spread for Lugo over the Colorado Party candidate Ovelar.

It was only 6% in the exit polls (43% to 37%), but I was hoping he would climb close to 50% for a stronger leftist mandate. (Probably--given likely Colorado Party election fraud efforts--he real mandate is closer to 50%.) It looks like the third candidate Oviedo had a surge and took votes from Ovelar. But we should remain aware--as Lugo certainly will be--that he did not receive a majority of the votes (apparently), and will have to work more by consensus and coalition. He certainly knows how to do that. He did an amazing job pulling the fractious Paraguayan left together for this historic victory. I remember predictions, when he first announced, that it would be nearly impossible to get them to pull together, and some comments around Christmas time that the coalition wasn't working. I don't think the pre-election polls ever put him higher than about 35% (in a multi-candidate field). This is truly a great victory. Now he has to pull the country together--and he may be facing a great crisis in neighbor Bolivia right away, if the white separatists split off their gas/oil-rich provinces (which border Paraguay) from the central government of Evo Morales, and there is a civil war in Bolivia--which I know the Bush Junta is working hard to instigate.

The final comments in this campaign by the Colorado Party leaders--candidate Olevar and former president Duarte--were very disturbing. They played the "terrorist" card, and as much as accused Lugo of being a "terrorist-lover" because, they said, there was evidence of FARC (leftist guerillas) in the poverty-stricken province where Lugo had been bishop for 12 years. The Bushites surely are advising the Colorado Party. They are trying to paint all of these new leftist leaders in South America as "terrorists.

They had Uribe (president of fascist Colombia) entice Chavez into hostage negotiations with the FARC, and then pulled the plug--Uribe suddenly announced that he was rescinding the request--just as Chavez was about to get the first two of six hostages released, and the Colombia military furthermore bombed the location of the first two hostages, as they were in route to their freedom, driving them back into the jungle on a 20-mile hike. (Chavez managed to get them out some weeks late--and then four more). This was colossal treachery by Uribe and the Bushites, and it's become clear, in retrospect, that the goal was to get Chavez associated with FARC in the public mind, to demonize him as a "terorist-lover" and probably to hand him a disaster (dead hostages). It was a set up.

You can see that Donald Rumsfeld was following this hostage matter closely, and was probably orchestrating the trap. He wrote about it in an op-ed in the Washington Post* the very weekend that the trap was to have been sprung--Dec 1, 2007--and mentions it in his first paragraph. (He says Chavez's hostages efforts were "not welcome in Colombia." But they had been welcome only days before. Was it Rumsfeld himself who called Uribe to spring the trap?) A couple of other things happened like this (treachery around hostages releases), then came a Colombia/U.S. military incursion into Ecuador.

Rafael Correa (president of Ecuador) almost got caught in this similar trap. He and the presidents of France--and possibly also Venezuela and Argentina--were in touch with the chief FARC hostage negotiator, Raul Reyes, with hostages negotiations "very advanced" (according to Correa, speaking afterward), including release of high profile hostage Ingrid Betancourt, when Colombia suddenly bombed a FARC camp inside Ecuador--using ten 500 lb. U.S. "smart bombs" and U.S. survelliance (and very possibly U.S. aircraft and personnel)--killing Reyes and more than 20 others (including an Ecuadoran citizen and several visiting Mexican students), and then sent Colombian troops over the border to shoot any survivors. They had all been asleep; bodies were found in their pajamas shot in the back (according to reports from the Ecuadoran military). Rafael Correa was furious at this violation of Ecuador's sovereignty. He rushed military battalions to Ecuador's border. They were very close to war. Chavez also sent the Venezuela military to reinforce Venezuela's border with Colombia, probably to reassure Correa that he was not alone in facing Colombia/U.S. aggression. Chavez then talked Correa out of retaliating--a very smart move, because this, too, had been a trap--to draw them into a war, and create a major destabilization of the region. (About a week later, Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, called Chavez "the great peacemaker.")

When the Bushites couldn't draw them into war, they concocted documents, supposedly in a laptop computer taken from the bombed FARC camp, which Bush's pal Uribe started proclaiming as evidence that Chavez and Correa were funding, and/or being funded by, friendly with, and colluding with, FARC "terrorists."

So this has become the tenor of Bush Junta foreign policy in South America. Treachery. Wild accusations. Lies. Disinformation. (Just like the WMD lies about Iraq.) Trying to create suspicions, and "divide and conquer." Accusing others of what they themselves are doing (terrorizing). Destabilization. Destuction of the peace. Causing major trouble. Their goal, of course: to regain global corporate predator control of the Venezuelan and Ecuadoran oil fields. Chaos = opportunity. So they create chaos.

It is their M.O. in Iraq. It is Rumsfeld's M.O. And they are not done. They want an oil war in South America this year. And where they mean to get it started is Bolivia, right next door to Paraguay (because Venezuela and Ecuador wouldn't bite--wouldn't be baited--and everything else they've tried in those countries has failed; Correa is cleaning the CIA out of Ecuador's military, as we speak). So they want to exploit the civil war they've stoked up among the rich white separatists, on Paraguay's border, in Bolivia. And possibly they hope to draw Bolivia's strong allies, Venezuela and Ecuador (and maybe Argentina), into that conflict.

Duarte and Ovelar mouthing off about Lugo being a "terrorist-lover" occurred in this context. It is more than demagoguery. It is a war plan. And the Colorado Party seems to be playing the Bushite game.

Lugo's election is far more important that most North Americans realize. It is a huge monkey wrench in the Bushites' plan to destabilize the Andes region. Lugo opposes the U.S. air base in Paraguay, for instance, and wants it gone, and will certainly oppose U.S. interference in Bolivia. He is not in a terribly strong position to oppose them. He is new, and inexperienced, and has still to create a new, clean, reform government--after 60 years of entrenched fascism and corruption. (He repeatedly tells people that "I am not Hugo Chavez"--probably because the corporate crap rags keep asking him about it, and trying to paint him as a socialist firebrand and "friend of Fidel Castro" as they do to Chavez and every other pro-people leader in South America.) But he is not the corrupt, collusive , rightwing Colorado Party. He will not create an easy atmosphere for fascist/corporate plotting against his neighbors. He is an honest man, and a genuine advocate of the poor.

As for his safety, just remember that he is not alone. And Rafael Correa is not alone. And Hugo Chavez is not alone. And Cristina Fernandez (Argentina) is not alone. And Michele Batchelet (Chile) is not alone. And Tabare Vasquez (Uruguay) is not alone. And Lula da Silva is not alone. And Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) is not alone. ?They are all in this together. All the new leftist governments, and their millions and millions of supporters. It is a new day in South America. Everything has changed.

[scarletwoman]

42. Peace Patriot! That is such an amazing wonderful post you MUST post it as a stand-alone OP!

Please post it in GD! It is such a succinct summary of what's been going on in South America -- truly excellent! More people need to understand these things on the deeper level you've so skillfully articulated.

I started paying actual focused attention on South America only a few months before the 2002 attempted coup against Chavez. I had already been reading about him and the Bolivarian Revolution from Greg Palast and in Zmag and Narco News, and other obscure leftist sources.

It's all part of the enormous hidden history of the U.S. government that only a very small percentage of U.S. citizens are aware of at all -- and that includes so-called "liberals" and "progressives".

You would be doing an enormous service to post your comment as an OP in GD.

Not that it will get a great deal of attention, but the chance of raising at least one or two consciousnesses is always a worthwhile endeavor.

And I promise to kick it, of course.

sw

[Peace Patriot]

33. The Colorado Party lost their majority in the Senate, as well as losing the presidency!

Found it in a BBC article about the big party in Asuncion tonight. This is good news. It means that they won't easily be able to block Lugo's reforms.

----


Paraguayan voters savour change
By Gary Duffy
BBC News, Asuncion

The party that continued well into the night on the streets of Asuncion felt like a celebration of democracy at work.

Jubilant supporters of the victorious opposition presidential candidate Fernando Lugo packed the streets waving flags and banners and singing songs as it became clear not only that he had won, but that the victory would be respected.

After 61 years of continuous rule by the same party this was a moment the opposition wanted to savour. It was almost as if they could not believe the scale of their achievement. (MORE)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7358047.stm

----

Here it is, in the third section of the article:

"While the Colorados could not retain their majority in the Senate, the new president will need to forge alliances to push his programme through the Congress." --BBC

[Peace Patriot]

35. "For the first time in our lives, we have hope!" --Paraguayan voter and celebrant

GREAT article on the mood in Asuncion tonight!

"For the first time in our lives, we have hope, we have possibilities... We are a new nation!"

--------------

People here from age 10 to 100 will never forget it, and it will be talked about for as long as they shall live - regardless of what comes after. It is the beginning of something else, new horizons, a new chapter in this book that is Paraguay, and this is living history. Everyone here realizes it, and tonight, you couldn't help but get teary-eyed as the grandmothers, wrapped in the Paraguayan flag, danced with children in the streets, and cried at the top of their lungs that this is the moment they've been waiting for their whole lives.

Tonight, for millions of Paraguayans in this tiny country, and across the globe, nothing else matters. There is nothing else. "I am renewed!" cried a friend at the foot of the Pantheon in the midst of jubilant revelry after the results were announced. "For the first time in our lives, we have hope, we have possibilities... We are a new nation!"

(MORE)

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1243/1/

[Joanne98]

36. YAY!

[Warren Stupidity]

37. OH NOES!

What will our friends here do when the PAC starts implementing democratic socialism in Paraguay? It will be tough, as the Colorado Party represented the last remnants of 20th century classic fascism, but I am sure they will find a way.

[Judi Lynn]

39. 'Bishop of the poor' takes power in Paraguay

9.45am BST
'Bishop of the poor' takes power in Paraguay
Allegra Stratton and agencies guardian.co.uk, Monday April 21 2008

A former bishop has ended Paraguay's 61 years of one-party rule, beating the reigning party's candidate to win the country's presidential election.

Late last night, Fernando Lugo, a mild-mannered leftist who quit the clergy three years ago, saying he felt powerless to help Paraguay's poor, was announced as the winner of the elections after some uncertainty.

Lugo had been given 40 - 43% in four separate exit polls earlier in the evening. The ruling Colorado party's candidate, Blanca Ovelar, the first woman to run for president in Paraguay, was on 36 - 38%.

Ovelar, 50, a former education minister and protege of the outgoing president, Nicanor Duarte, at first refused to concede, predicting she would score heavily in rural areas beyond the reach of the exit pollsters. But with Lugo nine points up in partial official counted ballot results, she gave way.

Another candidate, retired army general Lino Oviedo, freed last year after the supreme court overturned a sentence for plotting a coup, was in third place.

"We ask you never to abandon us. We'll make democracy together!" Lugo, bearded, bespectacled 56-year-old, told cheering supporters as firecrackers resounded around Asuncion last night.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/21/4

[Judi Lynn]

40. Ex-bishop wins Paraguayan election; 6-decade rulers dumped

Ex-bishop wins Paraguayan election; 6-decade rulers dumped
Posted on Mon, Apr. 21, 2008
By BILL CORMIER
Associated Press Writer

ASUNCION, Paraguay -- The world's longest-ruling political party is about to lose its six-decade grasp on power in Paraguay after a former Roman Catholic bishop won the country's presidential election.

The Colorado Party's reign - which began in 1947 and was marked by the right-wing dictatorship of the late Gen. Alfredo Stroessner until his ouster in 1989 - was halted by Fernando Lugo, a charismatic 56-year-old who advocated for the end of political corruption and economic disarray.

He beat Colorado Party rival Blanca Ovelar, a 50-year-old protege of President Nicanor Duarte who had sought to become Paraguay's first woman president in Sunday's election.

The triumph of Lugo's eclectic opposition coalition - the Patriotic Alliance for Change - is the latest in a series of electoral wins by leftist, or center-left, leaders in South America.

Mark Weisbrot, at the Washington think tank Center for Economic and Policy Research, said Lugo's election is a sign of "deep and irreversible ... changes sweeping Latin America."

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/915/story/503649.html

[Judi Lynn]

44. Election tremor: In Paraguay, voters send a message about change

Election tremor: In Paraguay, voters send a message about change
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The results of Paraguay's elections sent a major shock to the political status quo in the South American country of 7 million.

Sunday's victor was a former Roman Catholic bishop, Fernando Lugo, 56, a somewhat unlikely candidate who had left the church a few years ago because he felt he was able to do little to improve the plight of the poor.

Part of the shock was that Mr. Lugo defeated Blanca Ovelar of the Colorado Party, which had been in power for more than 61 years. If elected, she would have joined the leaders of Argentina and Chile among South America's first female presidents. (Paraguay, with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, form South America's burgeoning common market, Mercosur.)

Finishing third was a formerly rebellious military officer, Lino Cesar Oviedo. Paraguay for many years was an archetypical Latin American military dictatorship, headed for 35 years by Gen. Alfred Stroessner. Its military have never been shy about intervening in politics, although Mr. Oviedo quickly acknowledged Mr. Lugo's victory.

Finally, it is generally expected that Mr. Lugo as president will hew a line more independent of the United States than that of his predecessor, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, based on his platform of social reform. His election can thus be considered a setback for U.S.-Paraguay relations, unless the United States is able to shift gears on policy in order to cooperate more effectively with the new government.

More:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08113/875313-192.stm

[JohnnyCougar]

47. That's a great article!

I'm glad someone decided to write that and send it in. It's time for a fact-based dialogue about Latin America.

[lonestarnot]

48. bushitler shouldn't get to comfy on that land he bought!

:rofl:

[antigop]

49. Is he an elitist?

:sarcasm:

[Judi Lynn]

50. In South America, the White House Has Nowhere to Turn: Bush's Paraguayan Fiasco

April 22, 2008
In South America, the White House Has Nowhere to Turn
Bush's Paraguayan Fiasco
By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF


The tiny, land locked nation of Paraguay has not been blessed with political good fortune. For decades, anti-Communist General Alfredo Stroessner, who “disappeared” and tortured thousands of dissidents, ruled over this country of some 7 million people. Stroessner was dislodged by his military subordinates in 1989 and later died in exile in Brazil at the age of 93.

However, the Colorado Party, which backed Stroessner during his 35-year dictatorship, maintained a tight lock on political power while enriching itself and the wealthy at the expense of ordinary Paraguayans. Under Colarado rule, Paraguay became renowned as a haven for fugitive Nazis, smugglers and drug traffickers.

For years, the U.S. backed repressive military rule in Paraguay in an effort to keep a lid on progressive social change. For Washington, Stroessner, a strong anti-communist, could do no wrong. A willing U.S. ally during the Cold War, Stroessner supported Lyndon Johnson’s invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965 and even offered to help send troops to Vietnam.

Even in Paraguay’s darkest hours, while Stroessner harbored Nazi war criminals, crushed non communist peaceful opposition and persecuted the indigenous population (including forcibly assimilating the Ache population, a policy which ended in bloodshed, sexual slavery and servitude), the U.S. continued to back the General. It wasn’t until the late 1970s, with the arrival of Jimmy Carter in the White House, that the U.S. withdrew its support.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/kozloff04222008.html

[Judi Lynn]

51. Paraguay's President-elect Lugo vows to establish relations with China for first time

Paraguay's President-elect Lugo vows to establish relations with China for first time

The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
ASUNCION, Paraguay: Newly elected leftist leader Fernando Lugo said Tuesday that Paraguay would establish diplomatic relations with China for the first time in history in a bid to boost foreign investment and trade.

"If other nations have trade and diplomatic relations with continental China, why should we stay behind?" said Lugo, a former Catholic bishop, whose election Sunday ended 61 years of one-party rule.

Paraguay has recognized Taiwan since 1958 and remains the only South American country to do so. Lugo did not say whether relations with Taiwan would be affected by his opening toward China — which the Paraguay Congress must still approve.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province, and the Asian rivals have for years competed for recognition from Latin American and Caribbean countries, often offering trade deals and aid as incentives.

Panama, for example, maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which this year donated US$9.5 million (€6 million) to build a hospital there. Costa Rica, in contrast, broke relations with Taiwan last year, adopting a "one China" policy shared by the U.S. and most South American nations.

More:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/22/america/LA-GEN-Paraguay-Lugo.php

[Judi Lynn]

53. Opposition promise support for Paraguay president elect

Sunday, April 27, 2008
Opposition promise support for Paraguay president elect

Paraguay’s President Nicanor Duarte revealed that he had talks with president elect Fernando Lugo “to ensure governance” for the country, and if the incoming administration proposes a constitutional review, he will support it from Congress, according to reports in Asunción Sunday press.

Although not many details were advanced Duarte said that last Friday he met with Lugo and vice president elect Federico Franco and talked about the “necessity to ensure governance for Paraguay”. But he also cautioned that before, agreements must be reached at Congressional level.

None of the three leading forces in Paraguay has a majority in Congress.

“We believe it’s essential the future government has the necessary support to rule, because an atmosphere of instability and political dispute won’t contribute to the development of the country”, said President Duarte who next August 15 after handing the sash to Lugo returns to Congress as a Senator.
(snip)

Meantime the former bishop received strong support from the Catholic Church whose maximum representative in Paraguay called on the faithful “to accept Lugo as president of the Republic, as it has been acknowledged by the Church”, and to help him accomplish his duties.

More:
http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=13262&formato=HTML

[lunatica]

54. Viva Paraguay! nt

[Judi Lynn]

56. This is a cool bit of news you may find interesting:

Paraguay's Lugo taps economy minister
1 day ago

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — President-elect Fernando Lugo has tapped an austerity-minded former economy minister fired by his predecessor to return to the post, his running mate said Sunday.

Dionisio Borda was previously economy minister for three years beginning in 2003 until he was forced out, apparently the casualty of a power struggle within current President Nicanor Duarte's ruling Colorado Party.

Lugo's vice-president-in-waiting, Federico Franco, said Borda had accepted a formal offer to fill the position after the new administration takes power Aug. 15.

Franco said Borda was largely responsible for a 6 percent economic growth spurt last year, after his ouster. He is known for running tight budgets.

More:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gKFwgyOGW11Ic__M0u5FlEvfUpWAD90AE5PG0