Paraguay's Fernando Lugo alleges coup plot

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Paraguay's Fernando Lugo alleges coup plot
Posted on Tue, Sep. 02, 2008reprint print email
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Associated Press

ASUNCION, Paraguay -- Paraguay's president has warned of a possible coup plot against his new government, saying that rival politicians summoned a key military figure to gauge support for their political ambitions.

Two alleged participants responded that the meeting never happened. But President Fernando Lugo said all Paraguayans need to be on alert for coup attempts by ''antidemocratic and retrograde'' elements.

''We will not allow attacks on the freedom of our people,'' Lugo told reporters summoned to his offices Monday. ``Those who intend to pursue conspiratorial projects will be met with all the tools the constitution gives me.''

Lugo accused retired Gen. Lino Cesar Oviedo, a former political rival who placed third in April's presidential election, of holding the meeting in his home on Sunday.

Lugo told reporters that a liaison between the military and Congress unwittingly was driven to the meeting. He was picked up by the chauffeur of Senate President Enrique González, a member of Oviedo's party.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/668689.html

[SidneyCarton]

1. Big surprise here.

Shrub wants to make sure his Paraguayan bolt-hole is secure, just in case he has to use it.

[frog92969]

11. Exactly

We should have been waiting for this one.

Last I heard, Chimpy already had a small army there as well.

[secondwind]

2. It is about time the U.S. took Latin America more seriously,

because there are alot of potential "disasters" waiting to happen...........I hope Obama will be the kind of President who looks to his neighbors in the South, and begins to take them seriously.

[goforit]

3. Isn't Paraguay where George W is gonna retire(hide)???

[democrat2thecore]

30. Not anymore - not with President Lugo!

[happydreams]

37. The Bushies and Rev. Mooniemaker have alot of land there. No wonder

they want Lugo out.

[happydreams]

38. K&R.

[Peace Patriot]

4. Well, it's the Miami Herald, so take every word with a grain of salt.

Of all the Corpo shit rags on earth, they have to be the worst--especially on anything to do with the South American left.

I thought that Lugo had pulled Oviedo into his coalition. There was a report to that effect not long ago--about a month. I don't recall the news source. Could be Oviedo was playing foxy, and appeared to support Lugo, but was already (or always was) a Bush Cartel agent. Could also be "divide and conquer"--something planted by Bushite agents provocateur. We don't know yet.

Lugo is facing 61 years of entrenched rightwing corruption. He has quite an awesome task to clean it up and strengthen Paraguay's democratic institutions. He has also done some daring and courageous things in his first weeks in office, including placing an indigenous women (who had been sold into slavery as a girl) in charge of the government's department of indigenous affairs, and proclaiming an independent Parguayan foreign policy (independent of the U.S. and its Corpo rulers) on issues like Cuba and Taiwan, and also with respect to relations with other democratic leftist leaders, such as his neighbor Evo Morales in Bolivia, and the leftist presidents of Venezuela and Ecuador. He embraced the latter three at his inauguration, and got up on stage with Chavez at the celebration afterwards and they did a rollicking version of "Todo Cambia" ("Everything Changes").

I've no doubt the Bushwhacks and their local fascist toadies have their knives out for Lugo. One of the defenses against such plots is openness--frankness in talking about them, and early exposure--a defense that the Bolivarian leaders have employed well. They are naturally candid leaders, and speak in raw truths that startle us (we're not used to leaders who speak truthfully), and that shine the light of day on fascist plotters, in their murky and devious Bush-backed scheming.

When Lugo was elected this year, Morales sent him the following congratulatory message: "Welcome to the 'Axis of Evil!'"

They sing about it. They laugh about it. They have each other's backs. And they are moving swiftly toward close economic cooperation and integration, to build a strong democratic fortress against any further U.S. dictation and evil interference in South America. It is a wonder to behold--and so refreshing, compared to the toxic Bushite/Corpo stew that passes for democracy here.

[Judi Lynn]

8. He will be fought every step of the way by the people who had Paraguay in chains

for 61 straight years up until last week! They won't go quietly, these same people who empowered Nazi-sympathizer, host to Nazi "Dr. Death" Mengele after World War II, Alfredo Stroessner who tortured, slaughtered, disappeared so many indigenous people in Paraguay, whose children were sold into slavery.

They've had some bad, bad times there at the hands of the Colorado Party. These racist monsters aren't prepared to live as citizens in a Democratic society. They will do everything in their power to overthrow Lugo.

Lugo has some very strong, capable friends now, and a deeply supportive, appreciative Paraguayan majority. That will surely help protect him some, but far more will be needed, as well, against true tyrants.

His fellow leaders will surely have his back. They've been looking forward to this time since last year, at least.



Chile's Michelle Bachelet



Ecuador's Rafael Correa



Venezuela's Hugo Chavez



Bolivia's Evo Morales



Argentina's Cristina Fernández de Kirchner



Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega on the left, Honduras' Manuel Zelaya next to Lugo



Uruguay's Tabare Vasquez

I know I've left some out, can't remember which ones!

[Peace Patriot]

24. Great pix, Judi Lynn! THANKS! Pix = a thousand words. n/t

[WriteDown]

5. Could also be the other way around....

A good way to carry sympathy with the the people and to eliminate your enemies is to declare that you have been the target of a coup. I'll await a little more evidence before making any conclusions.

[Judi Lynn]

6. He already has the sympathy of the people. He was MASSIVELY supported in the recent election.

Your attempt to imply he's deceitful is repellent beyond belief.

Doesn't matter what your opinion is. Around 90% of Paraguay's population approve of him as per a very recent poll.

[WriteDown]

7. I can't believe you are citing a poll....

Most dictators also point to polls where they are getting nearly 100% support. I remain skeptical. I trust no leader completely. It is still an excellent way to dispose of your political enemies.

[Judi Lynn]

9. You're going nowhere trying to dump on Lugo. Hang it up.

Former bishop Fernando Lugo scores historic win in Paraguay
By Bill Cormier
Associated Press Writer / April 21, 2008

ASUNCION, Paraguay—Former Roman Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo won a historic victory in Paraguay's presidential election Sunday, ending more than six decades of one-party rule with a mandate to help the nation's poor and indigenous.

His rival, Blanca Ovelar, conceded defeat after a closely fought race to lead this poor, agrarian nation where Ovelar's Colorado Party is the only ruling party most people have ever known.

News of the win by the gray-bearded Lugo, dubbed the "bishop of the poor," set off massive parties in cities across Paraguay with horn-honking caravans of cars blaring music. Others stamped on torn-down banners of the Colorado Party, which many Paraguayans blame for decades of corruption by political elites.

The triumph by Lugo's eclectic opposition alliance also marked the latest in a series of electoral wins by leftist, or center-left, leaders in South America.

"You have decided what has to be done in Paraguay. You have decided to be a free Paraguay. Thank you, thank you, all of you!" Lugo, 56, told tens of thousands of supporters in downtown Asuncion, as fireworks burst under a full moon. "Today, we have written a new chapter in our nation's political history."

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2008/04/21/former_bishop_fernando_lugo_scores_historic_win_in_paraguay/

[WriteDown]

10. Proves nothing....

He could be a saint, but I am always suspicious. Mugabe was lauded as well initially. I just hold a wait and see attitude.

[democrat2thecore]

32. Hell, the ELECTION was just a few months ago! You don't much like those on the left - I have noticed

You're right there to defend the indefensible.

[Peace Patriot]

12. Oh, for chrissake! Now you're calling LUGO a "dictator." I don't understand

people who post crap like this at DU. I really don't. South America is CREATING democracy--with their own blood, sweat and tears--at LONG LAST, in a difficult, dangerous battle with Bushwhacks and the corrupt, murderous fascists they support, and all you can do is criticize it. Don't you recognize democracy when you see it? Or are you too inured to the hairdo and flag pin freak show that the Corpo media parades as democracy here, that you really don't recognize the real thing? Or are you just too uninformed and disinformed--without context, without history, without analysis and understanding--the disease inflicted on our people by Bushite liars who run the Corpo propaganda machine here--that you really don't know what democracy is, and what a triumph for democracy that Lugo's election represents.

I do agree that we don't yet know what this is about, considering the 'news' source. But suggesting that Lugo would LIE, on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, because 'Hey, dictators lie, and (wink, wink, hint, hint) Lugo might be one,' is absurd, and borderline disinformation, disguised as 'innocent' speculation. 'When did you stop beating your wife? Come on, now, tell us the truth. Did you stop beating her last week, last year, when?' 'When did you cancel your membership in the Communist Party, Senator?' It's a classic disinformation technique to smear someone with a LYING QUESTION.

[Selatius]

14. Maybe people in America have forgotten what democracy looks like.

We've been living in a nation where mediocre leaders have been the norm, and many visionary leaders curiously end up getting assassinated. We live with a government that simply lies to the American people. Hell, most people don't even think the gov't is telling the truth anymore about things like the JFK assassination. The civil trial jury concluded that MLK was the victim of a conspiracy and not a lone gunman.

Americans think the press is free. What press? The news outlets? The same news outlets that are owned by some of the biggest corporations on the planet? The same corporations that would lose billions of dollars with devaluing stocks if the type of news came out that would cause Americans to take to the streets and stop all businesses like it was the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine?

[WriteDown]

15. Never said anything of the sort....

I just get nervous when leaders start citing coup attempts which is usually followed with additional powers that are then obtained. You got my point about the accuracy of the report. Supposedly, Lugo will present more evidence soon. I have high hopes for Lugo, but I remain skeptical.

[Peace Patriot]

19. When you raise a question, on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, that

the new president of Paraguay--a former bishop ("the bishop of the poor"), who has lived with the poor, and advocated for them, his whole career, and who is turning his presidential salary back to the people, and living poor now--is LYING about something, you raise suspicions about yourself, because that is a slimy, McCarthyite, Freeperville, Bushite tactic--raising what appears to be an innocent question, but which is, in fact, a loaded question--loaded with innuendo and slime. I've seen it used many times by anti-Chavez posters here. Loaded questions. Innocent-sounding "concerns." Supposedly admirable "skepticism." You get "all nervous" about the first good guy ever to become president of Paraguay and you base this "skepticism" on his concern about the fuckwads who have run Paraguay for 61 years, and supported 30 years of heinous dictatorship, and who created the most impoverished population in South America?

Yeah, Lugo is a fear-mongering asshole, out to be a "dictator," and we should remain "skeptical" of everything he says until he shows his true colors. And we should ignore the danger of a fascist coup in Paraguay, that he says is real, because?

What about showing some concern, yourself, about these rotten Bushwhack jerks? Why is it Lugo you're so "concerned" about, and not them? Lugo would be a nitwit to ignore any evidence of rightwing coup plotting, no matter how slight! And he is doing exactly the right thing--going public. You seem oblivious to the context and history of South America, and of Paraguay in particular. And you also seem oblivious to the facts on the ground in Paraguay. Lugo has a 92% approval rating. He has no need to engage in fear-mongering, and, if you know anything about him at all, you know that he is not the kind of leader who does fear-mongering. It is the fascists who do fear-mongering, always--here and there.

Fear-mongering is inventing phantom fears--fear of Iraq WMDs, fear of a "terrorist" under every bed. Identifying threats to the first administration in Paraguay ever to come to power democratically is NOT fear-mongering. And there is plenty of cause--overwhelming cause--to believe Fernando Lugo, when he tells us something like this.

The purpose of this kind of anti-left tactic--and I've seen it here in the case of Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia, as well--is to try to pre-empt the leftist leader's legitimate need for more executive power to counter a century of fascist-written laws and constitutions, and fascist/Corpo entrenchment. The situation in South America is very like the situation here during the Great Depression. FDR needed more executive power to deal with the fascist fuckwads who caused the Great Depression, and they called him "a dictator"! And it appears to me that you're just laying in wait, with your "concern" and your "skepticism," prepping the way for calling Lugo a "dictator," if he seeks more power from the legislature--as FDR did! --and as the leaders of all of the Bolivarian countries are doing, out of dire necessity.

A good case in point is the Bank of Venezuela, which was nationalized long before Chavez, was privatized under rightwing rule, and was recently put up for sale. Fascist Corpos cause runs on South American banks--as one tactic to destabilize and topple leftist democracies. So Chavez used his legitimate, temporary powers of 'decree'--granted to him by the legislature (a common practice in South America--used in Peru, Brazil and other countries), to buy the Bank of Venezuela (that is, to RE-nationalize it--but, as in every case of Chavez nationalizations, with fair compensation to private owners). Now Exxon Mobil (which hates Chavez) and World Bank loan sharks (who hate Chavez) and the Bushfiends (who hate Chavez) cannot destroy the Bank of Venezuela, in an effort to destabilize the country.

And immediately the Bushite anti-Chavez echo chamber here at DU started with the tiresome cries of "dictator" all over again. Chavez acts to protect Venezuela's sovereignty, and he's a "dictator." Lugo acts to head off a fascist coup in Paraguay, a country that has been run by fascist coups for 61 years, and--'just wait...this is a sign...oh, I'm so skeptical...I'm so concerned...look out, he could be a dictator!'

I'm skeptical, all right--but not about Lugo, about your comments.

[WriteDown]

20. So raising questions is now forbidden?

Good to know mein fuhrer. I am awaiting for actual evidence before concluding ANYTHING. You seem to operate on faith.

edited to add small thought.

[Peace Patriot]

23. Yeah, I "have faith" that Paraguay's rightwing are among the worst fascist

fuckwads in South America. I "have faith" in the testimony of the tortured and oppressed, and in the lamentations of the families of the 'disappeared.' I "have faith" that a man whose first act in office is to appoint an indigenous woman, who had been sold into slavery as a girl, as the head of Paraguay's office of indigenous affairs, is into TRUTH-TELLING.

I have no facts, no evidence. Only faith. I have no history, no context. Only faith.

I "have faith" that he is telling the truth, and that Bush-supported fascists are lying. I have no proof. I have no facts. I have no evidence. I have no reason to make these assumptions. Just faith.

Does the left tell the truth, and the right tell lies, in South America? I have no evidence. Just faith.

You, on the other hand, seem to "have faith" that Lugo is lying, which you disguise as a question: Is he lying? But the question should be, will these fuckwads succeed in toppling Paraguay's first democratically elected president? Will his strategy of going public protect him and Paraguayan democracy? It has prompted other South American countries, Mexico and the OAS into action, so it may work to head off the coup. He was smart to get this out into the public venue immediately. But you persist in suggesting that he is lying. You say, all innocently, it's just a question. You merely want "evidence." Uh-huh. I'm not buying it. Where is your concern for Lugo's life? Where is your concern for Paraguay's democracy? Where is your outrage at 61 years of fascism including 30 years of horrible fascism? Where is your understanding of what this means in Paraguay--with Lugo pledged to clean up the vast, entrenched, rightwing corruption, which will disempower, if not prosecute and imprison, many a fascist currently sharpening his knives against Lugo?

Save your skepticism for Bush and our own lawless government, and its use of billions of our taxpayer dollars to destroy democracy in South America. Save your skepticism for the fascist thugs and drug traffickers running Bush Cartel client state, Colombia. Use your "skepticism" and "questions" and need for "evidence" on those subjects--Bush, Uribe & brethren, who lie for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and go home at night, and lie in their dreams, and wake up the next day and lie some more. Stop dissing South American leftists, with this wide-eyed innocent posture that plants the suggestion of lying, without actually saying so, and thus obscures the REAL concerns that are at issue, when a man like Lugo goes public about a coup plot in Paraguay.

[WriteDown]

25. And I have faith that political powerplays are a reality...

I am still awaiting the evidence that was promised. Being cautionary in politics is never a bad idea.

[democrat2thecore]

34. Well said, Peace Patriot. -nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. You obviously don't know Paraguayan history

Obviously, in your mind, anyone who's friendly with Chavez is "bad."

It's the other side who have a history of being dictators, nasty even by the generous standards of South America. Even when I was studying world geography as a teenager in the 1960s, our textbook, normally full of Cold War attitudes, pointed to Paraguay as a land that had been ruled by some of the most corrupt, often crazy, series of dictators in Latin America.

[WriteDown]

26. I have been to many of those countries while they were under

dictators and on state business no less (well sorta :)). Brutal places indeed. I hope the best for all peoples, but I have a sit back and wait attitude.

[Peace Patriot]

27. People who have a "sit back and wait attitude" enable Bushfucks to jump in

and kill and torture and break every law and violate every decency that courageous people have fought for with their blood, sweat and tears, and sometimes at the sacrifice of their lives, over the decades and centuries of struggle for human rights.

"Sit back and wait." Uh-huh. For what? "Sit back and wait," while the Reaganites support and fund the slaughter of 200,000 Mayan villagers in Guatemala? "Sit back and wait," while Bushites slaughter a 100,000 innocent people in one night of "shock and awe bombing"--then kill hundreds of thousands more with the civil chaos they have caused--deaths from injuries, disease, tribal warfare, and the displacement of millions? "Sit back and wait" to see if the Bush-supported, violent, rightwing military coup in Venezuela is successful? "Sit back and wait," while the Bushwhacks stoke a civil war in Bolivia? "Sit back and wait," while the oiligarchy figures out how to kill a bishop?

We have to NOT "sit back and wait" any more. We have to pre-emptively attack Bushite/Corpo lies and help expose their dirty rotten plots. It's all we can do--seek out the facts, the context, the history, help educate people about the past, analyze the black holes where information should be, and the disinformation, in the Corpo media, spread the word about what's happening in South America now--a rebirth of democracy, in truth--and write letters, make phone calls, lobby, blog, and to try to keep our government from doing more evil.

This is in our own interest, and in the interest of peoples whom our government has greatly harmed--to NOT "sit back and wait." We need to know what's really happening in South America, now--for instance, the swift movement toward a South American "Common Market"--because it is going to directly affect us, because we live in this hemisphere, and because our own government is so bad, and has so gravely alienated the southern half of the hemisphere. We need to know, because our government is stoking coup plots and civil wars, and could well involve us in another oil war--this time in South America.

"Sit back and wait" is neither in our self-interest, nor in the interest of the people who have been oppressed by our government and its Corpos, and are rising in democratic rebellion against it. We need to support their rebellion! We need to let them know that the American people are also a revolutionary people, who seek justice and self-determination, and support justice and self-determination for our fellow and sister Americans to the south.

"Sit back and wait" lets evildoers operate with impunity. We can't do much--because our own government is so out of control--but we can, at least, pay attention, remain conscious, help others to do so, and not fall into the Corpo-induced slumber that has afflicted our people for so long.

We cannot afford to "sit back and wait." We have been "sitting back and waiting" for 40 forty years, starting with Reagan. And look what it has gotten us!

I urge you NOT to "sit back and wait." I urge you to actively seek out alternative information, so easy now with the internet, to counter the Corpo propaganda that we are subjected to, day in, day out. We are not getting the truth about South America, just as we did not get the truth about Iraq WMDs and so much else. You are foolish to "sit back and wait." It is not in your interest. It is not in the interest of your country. And it is not in the interest of the people in other countries, whom our government's policies greatly affect. I know that you mean it as to this situation--the threatened coup that Fernando Lugo has warned of, and that has most of Latin America expressing "grave concern" and support for Lugo. But I see it as a trend among people who don't want to be bothered about our own government's evil deeds, or about the sufferings and struggles of others. Our ignorance about both of these things--and our myopic, 'head in the sand' attitude, induced by Corpo propaganda--is leading to our country's irrelevance in our own hemisphere, and to the massive disdain and disgust of millions of people toward the U.S., when we could have had--and still could have--an extremely positive and fruitful relationship with the democratic revolution in the south.

This is an appalling situation. We need to be actively working for positive change in every sphere--both in our own country, and regarding our relations with the rest of the world. We have reached a critical turning point--with fascism at home and a bloody path to grab resources abroad, down one road, and re-building our democracy, and helping to create peace and prosperity in the world, down the other road. "Sit back and wait" means an acquiescent, obedient, quietest population of cannon fodder and slave labor, for the McBushes to take further down the bad road, until there is no turning back. I can only hope that that is not the choice of most of us. And I sincerely hope that it is not your choice in the larger picture.

"Sit back and wait" for Lugo to be taken down, if that's what you want to do. That's what your "waiting for the evidence" tells me that you are willing to do. For me, Lugo's word was good enough. He has now been seconded by the rest of Latin America. And if we take Deep Throat's advice--"Follow the money"--we know damn well who's behind this. We may not be able to do anything to prevent it, but the least we can do is not remain stupid sheep, "waiting for the evidence." And I hope you don't do this on other vital struggles for democracy and social justice, here or there.

[WriteDown]

36. Reactionaries tend to be misled....

History is replete with examples. Mugabe is a good one. The Duke Lacrosse players are another(and I was the first to pile on the accusations.)

[democrat2thecore]

31. You're certainly the conservative voice of DU aren't you?

Everytime I read your posts I wonder why you hang around here.

[Ghost Dog]

13. Hmm. Prensa Latina reports:

Lugo to Unveil New Conspiracy Proof
http://www.prensa-latinaenglish.com/article.asp?ID={2B9450E9-AEBC-44B0-A737-D2B5BAD96261})&language=EN

Asuncion, Sep 2 (Prensa Latina) Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo once again denounced a conspiracy plot against him, and added he will present more evidence Tuesday.

“We have the proofs, and trust General Maximo Diaz, whom I consider a mature, adult, calm person,” he pointed out.

Diaz, who acts as liaison between the Armed Forces and Congress, was called to a meeting Sunday at the residence of retired General Lino Oviedo, also attended by former President Nicanor Duarte, Senate President Enrique Gonzalez, Electoral Justice Minister Juan Manuel Morales, and Attorney General Ruben Candia.

As Lugo explained twice on Monday, the destabilizing attempt is headed by Oviedo y Duarte.

“Under these circumstances, I must censure the attitude of those involved, particularly of top magistrates,” Lugo said in a message from the palace of government.

In the meantime, the current commander of the military forces, General Bernardino Soto Estigarribia, affirmed today “the doors of the Armed Forces are opened to constitutional mandates of the Republic, and closed to coups.”

[Igel]

18. It's Wednesday now.

"Will present evidence" is nice, but "has presented evidence" is meaningful.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Paraguayan political system hermetic to President Lugo

Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Paraguayan political system hermetic to President Lugo

Latinamerican ambassadors and the Organization of American States expressed on Tuesday their full support to the elected government of Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo who on Monday warned of a possible coup plot against his new administration.

The ambassadors were invited by Foreign Affairs minister Alejandro Hamed and given details of the alleged plot.

President Lugo accused rival politicians of having summoned a key military figure to a conspiratorial meeting to gauge support for their political ambitions. However the two main alleged participants said that the meeting never happened.

But President Fernando Lugo revealed he had evidence of the meeting and plot and said all Paraguayans need to be on alert for coup attempts by "antidemocratic and retrograde” elements.

Apparently those involved are former president Nicanor Duarte and retired general and former presidential hopeful Lino Oviedo, who invited General Maximo Diaz Caceres, liaison between the Armed Forces and Congress to talk about the issue.

“The governments of the countries here represented have expressed their unrestricted support to President Lugo. They have also expressed their full support to the democratic process and their absolute respect for internal affairs which can only be addressed by Paraguayans”, said Mexican ambassador Ernesto Campos Tenorio, who acted as the diplomats spokesperson with Minister Hamed.

More:
http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=14430&formato=HTML

[Judi Lynn]

17. Paraguay backed amid plot fears

Page last updated at 11:13 GMT, Wednesday, 3 September 2008 12:13 UK
Paraguay backed amid plot fears

Latin American leaders have rallied behind Paraguay's new president, Fernando Lugo, after he said he was the target of a possible coup plot. The Organisation of American States (OAS) said it was deeply concerned and supported Mr Lugo's leadership.

Mr Lugo took office last month, ending six decades of Colorado Party rule. He has accused retired general Lino Oviedo and former president Nicanor Duarte of involvement in the alleged conspiracy. Both have denied this.

Paraguay has been best by political instability for the past 20 years.

On Monday, President Lugo accused his predecessor Mr Duarte and former Gen Oviedo of masterminding a conspiracy against his government. Both rejected the accusations, saying advisers close to the president could be making the claims for their own political ends.

Reform promise

Reacting to the coup plot allegations, the head of the Organisation of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, voiced his "deep concern" and called on Paraguay's political groupings to overcome their differences.

Ambassadors from nine South American nations and Mexico, as well as the OAS, voiced their backing for Mr Lugo and his government during a meeting called by the Paraguayan foreign minister, Alejandro Hamed.

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7595447.stm

[Peace Patriot]

21. Shame, shame, shame on the anti-left commenters on this board who jump

right in, with their carefully worded "skepticism" and "concern" about the first decent president in Paraguay's entire history, and as much as call him a liar and a would-be "dictator" for calling out yet another fascist coup plot in Paraguay!

Nine South American countries, Mexico and the OAS do NOT go public with "deep concern" and public backing of the first democratically elected president of Paraguay without grave cause.

And we are justified in being damned suspicious as well, that--just as the Bush/U.S. embassy was involved in the fascist coup attempt in Venezuela in 2002, and just as the Bush/U.S. embassy has been deeply involved in supporting the white separatists who are trying to tear Bolivia (Paraguay's neighbor) to pieces, and just as the Bush/U.S. embassy was involved in the Colombia/U.S. bombing/raid on Ecuador earlier this year--the U.S. embassy in Paraguay is involved in this as well.

Our "skepticism" and "concern" on this board should be reserved for our own lawless government, and for the fascist renegades they fund, train and arm in South America, and should not be used as a McCarthyite tactic to sully transparently elected, leftist leaders, who are empowering and benefiting the people of South America.

We should be concerned about our powerlessness to stop our government from running rampant through the world, and shredding our Constitution, and committing felonies every day--murder, torture, mass thievery, massive spying.

The South American left is one of the biggest and most positive counter-trends to Bushite power in the world. We should be fully backing them. And when the right cries "dictator" against one of their leftist leaders, we should be laughing them off this board.

Have we not had enough of Bushite lies? None of these leaders is a "dictator." It is the Bushites who are dictators! It is Bushites and their "friends and allies" in South America (as Donald Rumsfeld recently put it) who torture and kill for power, and who collude with the Bush junta to topple democrats with a small d: Chavez, Morales, Correa, Lugo, Kirchner, da Silva, Vasquez, Ortega, Batchelet, Colom, Zelaya--and who connive with the Bush junta to try to prevent leftist democrats from winning yet more elections, coming up in El Salvador, Mexico and Peru.

But it's quite interesting what is happening in Latin America, between left and right, on the issue of the SOVEREIGNTY of Latin American countries, the one issue on which they seem to be a united front. I first noticed this in 2006, when the rightwing/Corpo president of Mexico publicly lectured Bush on the sovereignty of Latin American countries, using Venezuela as an example. (I was floored, actually.) Latin Americans knew--what our people mostly didn't know--that the Bush junta was still trying to assassinate/topple the Chavez government, even as late as 2006.

There was a similar reaction to the Colombia/U.S. bombing/raid into Ecuador this year. The issue was Ecuador's sovereignty, and right and left were united on that issue.

This is a compelling issue in Latin America, which the many new leftist leaders are trying to extend into the economic sphere, with considerable success. Latin Americans have had it with U.S. domination. And even the Corpo right has to respect that overwhelming sentiment and play to it (though their policies often do otherwise).

When a leftist leader warns of a rightwing coup plot, we should defer to their judgment (and not start hinting that they are a "dictator"--jeez!), and we should further look to our own horrible government as the likely puppetmaster behind such plots. REASON, and past and recent HISTORY, overwhelmingly point in these directions. They should be our starting assumptions--when news like this reaches us--not that the leftist leader is LYING! And those who start with that assumption should held in suspicion--at the least suspicion of vast ignorance, and at worst suspicion of touting Bushite psyops at DU.

[L. Coyote]

28. Remember Bush's failed attempt to overthrow Venezuela's democracy!

MUST SEE:

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED
75 min -

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144

[democrat2thecore]

33. Long Live Channel 8! -nt

[democrat2thecore]

29. I've been worried about this since his election

I like this guy - a lot.

[L. Coyote]

35. The right wing opposition in Bolivia was soundly defeated in the referendum

All of Latin America is sick and tired of the interference in their affairs, the extra-judicial murders of liberals, the whole dominationist imperial attitude of the USA's Republican Administrations.