MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

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. "We were informed, we are following events, as far as diplomacy entitles us but our countries are willing if so requested and agreed to support any initiative in the framework of international organizations", added ambassador Campos Tenorio. Talking with reporters President Lugo said "we will not allow attacks on the freedom of our people; those who intend to pursue conspiratorial projects will be met with all the tools the constitution gives me". President Lugo said that the meeting took place at General Oviedo's house on Sunday where General Diaz Caceres was unwittingly driven by the chauffer of Senate President Enrique Gonzalez, a member of Oviedo's party. At the meeting, the military Congressional liaison was asked the political leanings of the military. He said "the military is neutral and immediately left" Gonzalez called Lugo's accusations "absurd" and Electoral Justice Minister Juan Manuel Morales, also accused of attending the meeting, said he was working in his office Sunday night. Oviedo, who once was jailed for coup-plotting and later cleared, recently helped Lugo form a governing coalition in Congress. However the alleged plot engineering can be better linked to former president Nicanor Duarte who was elected to the Senate with half a million votes but half the House would like to see him ousted and face the court on corruption charges. Mr. Duarte is the target of the Partido Colorado to which he belongs and which ruled Paraguay undisputedly for over six decades but he was the "Marshall of defeat", the man who accepted victory from the catch all coalition organized with to carry former bishop Fernando Lugo as the pennant. Members of the ruling coalition would also like to see Duarte in jail on corruption charges as the symbol of decades of plundering by the Colorado party. In this scenario the Paraguayan Senate is stalled, unable to convene with crucial legislation such as the national budget waiting consideration.