Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies rejected President Mario Abdo Benítez’s impeachment request

The Paraguayan Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday rejected the impeachment request of the president, Mario Abdo Benítez, and the vice-president, Hugo Velázquez, for alleged corruption and “poor performance” in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

The trial, which could cost them their work, had been requested by the opposition minority, and the ruling Colorado party immediately called a special session. to discuss the allegations with the intention of archiving them.

The initiative of the Liberal Party, the most important of the opposition, along with other minority groups, was rejected with 42 votes against, 36 for and 2 absences, in both votes.

Celestial yellow, a member of the Liberal Party, the most important of the opposition, began to read the accusatory document to Abdo Benítez. The basis of the text was that of “the ineptitude to manage the pandemic” by the president.

In his enumeration, Amarilla stressed that the executive had sufficient financial resources to meet the health and social needs of the population and yet it was not strengthening the shortcomings of the precarious public health network to cope with the pandemic.

The head of the lower house, Pedro Alliana, in turn president of the Colorado party, made the extraordinary summons at the request of the deputy of the ruling party Basilio Núñez, an hour after the liberals presented the accusatory document at the entrance table of the deputies.

This is despite the fact that some opposition lawmakers who attended this regular session practically asked for more time to appear in the room due to the importance of the issue to be discussed.

The coloradismo is divided in the Lower House between the bench linked to Abdo Benítez and the one that responds to the former president Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), this is where the immediate processing of the initiative began.

This sector of Cartes refused in 2019 to approve the dismissal of Abdo Benítez, who intended to launch the opposition when the content of an energy agreement with Brazil was known, considered by the liberals and the left forces as harmful. to the interests of the country.

The resurgence of the covid-19 pandemic, which over the past two weeks has wrecked hospitals in Paraguay, has served as a shield for the government against protests. due to lack of drugs and reports of corruption.

The opposition, a minority in the Legislative Assembly, echoed popular outrage, made worse by the lack of vaccines.

Only 4,000 doses of Sputnik V, purchased from Russia, and 20,000 Sinovac vaccines from China and donated by Chile, which were intended for health workers, reached Paraguay.

Hundreds of people took part in protests against the Paraguayan government last week, which they accuse of corruption and mismanagement of the pandemic.

However, the high levels of mass contagion, they deflated the protests and reduced them to a minimum.

The total number of coronavirus deaths has risen to 3,554 and that of confirmed cases to 183,348 since the first case was reported a year ago in a country of seven million people.

Recommended by Pope Francis “Let’s build together the long-awaited peace” in a message sent to Paraguayans in the Vatican.

“Let us remember that violence is always self-destructive. Nothing is won. Much is lost, and sometimes everything, ”warned the Pope at the end of his traditional general audience.

With information from AFP and EFE

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