Mario Abdo Benítez seeks to stop the crisis in Paragu …

Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez was sworn in on Wednesday to the new ministers of education and women in a new attempt to end the crisis facing his government, hacked by a failed strategy in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. In parallel, the protests were repeated across the country for the sixth day in a row. “This government has been very bad from the start, and people have wanted to mobilize for a long time but were unable to do so due to the pandemic. The two drops that broke the glass were the vaccine that never arrives and the drugs that relatives of covid-19 patients have to buy because they are not available in hospitals. “, he assured in dialogue with Page 12 the political scientist Marcello Lachi.

This Wednesday Juan Manuel Brunetti took over the educational portfolio to replace Eduardo Petta, which left a leadership much criticized by unions, teachers and students. Brunetti is vice-president of the Association of Private Universities of Paraguay. “The former minister was incompetent, but in his place Abdo puts a guy who is not far. He ended up being the only one to have said yes, which gives a sample of the crisis that his administration is going through, ”warned Lachi.

As Celina Esther Lezcano, who comes from the trade union sector and has declared that she is not affiliated with any political party, will occupy the post left by Nilda Romero, former member of the Colorado Conservative Party. Romero’s resignation was requested at the end of February by feminist groups who considered her incapable due to an increase in femicides in the country.

This Wednesday, peaceful protests called for participation in a “Citizen’s indictment against President Mario Abdo Benítez and his Vice-President Hugo Velázquez”. The virtual appeal invited the population to criticize the Paraguayan government from 6 p.m. in front of the National Congress of Asunción. On Tuesday, the fifth consecutive day of protests outside the presidential residence, Abdo made the first changes to his cabinet and sworn in Julio Borba as Minister of Health.

Without clear leadership and driven by different sectors, the mobilizations do not stop in Paraguay under the slogan “Until Marito leaves”., a name by which the 47-year-old president is popularly known because his father, private secretary to dictator Alfredo Stroessner, was also called Mario.

The country declared the red health alert due to the increase in cases and the fragility of the health structure. It seems that there is little left of the country that was known to be an example in the region due to its rapid response to the pandemic.

“The only thing that can be noted as minimal success in this government was to have interpreted the seriousness of the pandemic, especially since Paraguay has a very rare health system. Until recently, Paraguayans traveled to Argentina to heal“, he remarked Lachi. “The Minister of Health convinced the president to shut everything down and put in place a strong quarantine. And it worked,” said the doctor of political science from the University of Siena.

The cycle was virtuous until complaints of corruption started to rain. “Paraguay took 1,600 million dollars and half of that money was spent on health to improve the intensive care system, buy ventilators, etc.” But Immediately it was found that they were buying things that were not working, overcharging, and this combination weakened the image of the health portfolio.“Lachi recognized.

Paraguay has so far only received 4,000 doses of Sputnik V to vaccinate 2,000 frontline workers in the fight against the coronavirus. It also has 20,000 additional CoronaVac units donated by the Chilean government. South American country tails region in vaccination campaign, and people are making it known in the streets to a government that keeps stumbling.