MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

In spite of coup denials Paraguayan president continues with military purge

President Lugo has been accused of leaning towards Venezuela

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo continued to purge the top ranks of the military Friday, removing the armed forces' commander. Lugo fired the commanders of the country's army, air force and navy on Wednesday.

The armed forces commander, Rear Adm. Cibar Benitez Caceres, had been the only top official to survive Wednesday's dismissals. Lugo has given no reason for the firings, publicly denying rumors of a coup plot.

Benitez Caceres will be replaced as armed forces chief by Brig. Gen. Juan Oscar Velazquez Castillo, the president's executive order said.

Benitez Caceeres said at Thursday's swearing-in ceremony of the news commanders that other changes would be coming in the lower ranks, but denied there was any truth to talk of a coup.

Some opposition politicians said Friday that Lugo is trying to install military commanders more in tune with his political and ideological leanings. Opposition Sen. Enrique Gonzalez Quintana was quoted in the Neike.com digital newspaper as saying Lugo has an agenda similar to that of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Paraguay's history is filled with unstable transitions of power since it emerged in 1989 from Gen. Alfredo Stroessner's 35-year dictatorship. There were attempted coups in 1996 and 2000, and President Raul Cubas resigned amid controversy in 1999.

Friday's military shakeup is the fourth since Lugo took office. The former Catholic bishop was elected to a five-year term last year, bringing an end to six decades of one-party rule in Paraguay.

Lugo has struggled to push reforms through a majority-opposition legislature. Opposition lawmakers, who say Lugo also has been ineffective in battling the nation's crime wave, are trying to impeach him.