MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan president sacks Interior minister and Chief of Police following torching of Congress

“I submit to a self-criticism because we politicians have not been able to settle our differences with dialogue and peace,” Cartes said in a Facebook message

President Horacio Cartes fired Paraguay’s interior minister and chief of police on Saturday following the death of a young opposition party leader and violent overnight clashes sparked by a secret Senate vote for a constitutional amendment to allow presidential re-election.

 Dozens of people, including a police officer, were arrested Friday evening in demonstrations that saw protesters break through police lines and enter the first floor of Paraguay’s legislature, setting fire to papers, furniture and offices. Police used water cannon and fired rubber bullets to drive protesters away from the building while firefighters extinguished blazes inside.

In the early hours Saturday, 25-year-old Rodrigo Quintana was shot and killed at the headquarters of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, a different location than the congress building where most of the protests took place. Anti-riot police with rifles and their heads and faces covered by helmets had stormed the opposition headquarters amid the anti-government protests.

Security camera footage showed people in a corridor running desperately from police and Quintana falling to the ground, apparently hit from behind. Seconds later, a policeman carrying a gun is seen stepping on Quintana, who is face down on the ground.

Before his dismissal, police commander Crispulo Sotelo identified Gustavo Florentin as the police agent responsible for Quintana’s death and said he had been arrested. Later Saturday, Cartes announced that he had accepted the resignations of Sotelo and Interior Minister Miguel Tadeo Rojas.

“I submit to a self-criticism because we politicians have not been able to settle our differences with dialogue and peace,” Cartes said in a message posted on his Facebook account hours after the dismissal of Rojas and Sotelo. “It hurts me that civilians and police officers were injured.”

“Any act that leads to the death of a young person is unjustifiable and a significant calamity. I offer my most sincere condolences to the family of Rodrigo Quintana. Rest assured that these acts will not go unpunished. Everyone responsible for this horrendous episode will face justice and will pay for what they’ve done,” added the president

The protests broke out after a majority of senators approved the amendment allowing for presidential re-election, a move opponents said was illegal because the vote was taken without all members of the Senate present. Presidents are limited to a single 5-year term and the proposal would allow Cartes and Paraguay’s previous presidents to run for the top job again in the 2018 election — a hot button issue in a country haunted by the 35-year rule of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner.

“My colleagues have carried out a coup because of the irregular and illegal manner in which they modified no less than the Constitution,” Sen. Luis Alberto Wagner of the opposition Authentic Radical Liberal Party said after the Friday evening vote.

The process to pass the amendment began Tuesday when 25 senators changed the internal procedures to speed up the vote against the wishes of Senate President Roberto Acevedo and other members of the chamber. Acevedo, of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, said that process violated Senate rules and he filed an appeal to the Supreme Court seeking to have the decision overturned.

The measure for a constitutional amendment allowing for presidential re-election was backed by 25 of the country’s 45 senators. The yes votes came from members of the governing Colorado Party and from several opposition groups.

After approval in the Senate, the proposal goes to the Chamber of Deputies, where 44 of the 80 members belong to the Colorado Party. Approval there would require the scheduling of a national referendum on the amendment.

Because of the violence, Saturday’s and Monday’s sessions of the Chamber were canceled. “We will evaluate the situation on Tuesday,” said legislative president Hugo Velazquez.

Cartes said that Vice Minister of Internal Security Lorenzo Lezcano would replace Rojas as interior minister, and police subcommander Luis Carlos Rojas would take over for Sotelo.

Paraguayan political analysts believe Cartes is not enthusiastic about his re-election bid, but his entourage want his to continue, since they fear a comeback of left leaning Fernando Lugo, who was removed from office by the Senate for incompetence in 2012, but is leading in opinion polls for next year's presidential election.