Canada prepared to accept the new political situation in Paraguay
Canada seems prepared to accept the new political situation in Paraguay following the removal of President Fernando Lugo, and pointed out in an official release that the ousted leader “accepted the decision from the Paraguayan Senate”.
Minister of State of Foreign Affairs for the Americas and Consular affairs, Diane Ablonczy said in a brief release that “Canada notes that Fernando Lugo has accepted the decision of the Paraguayan Senate to impeach him and that a new president, Federico Franco, has been sworn in”.
The statement from Ablonczy seems to mark distance from other regional governments’ reactions to the removal which strongly rejected events describing it as “an institutional coup” or criticizing the mechanism employed which limited due process and guarantees for the defense.
“We call for calm throughout Paraguay and will continue to follow developments closely” added the release underlining that “the stability and respect for democracy that currently exist in the region have been hard won and must be protected”.
Back in 2009 when the coup in Honduras against President Manuel Zelaya, Canada also adopted an attitude distant from other countries in the Americas, including that of Washington which at the time requested the restitution of the elected constitutional president.
On that occasion Canada condemned the coup but did not request the return of Zelaya and simply called for “a pacific solution to the current political crisis.
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Neither the Minister nor anybody else seems to really know whats in so many countries' constitutions, so without having lawyers pouring over the details, once Lugo said that he was accepting the decision, it puts into gear a different take on the event.
Canada is pretty far from Paraguay!
Probably most know of Lugo's rather peculiar trajectory to get the presidency, his personal problems, and most recently, the deadly fight between police and landless that served as pretext for the destitution from the presidency.
Might be possible that if Lugo is careful in his steps now, he could be acquitted and back in the presidency.
Reference:
Statement on Situation in Paraguay:
www.international.gc.ca/media/state-etat/news-communiques/2012/06/23a.aspx?lang=eng&view=d
On Paraguay, like Germany, Canada has made a commitment to support constitutionality and non-violence. Appears now that Lugo has changed his mind (or had it changed for him) about his ouster.
Its becoming a Lugo-leftist versus centrist-conservative conflict, but if Chávez cuts off oil to Paraguay, I wonder if Paraguay might be in the market for some good Rockhopper product?
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