MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan Senator wants VP to resign or face impeachment

It seems now Velázquez plans to stay as VP until the evidence against him is produced

Since Paraguayan Vice President Hugo Velázquez is yet to resign from his post, which he had vowed to do Friday after being added by the United States to the list of “significantly corrupt individuals,” Senator Martín Arévalo stressed that the Lower House would have to move on with the impeachment procedures.

Velázquez had announced that he would submit his letter of resignation to the Vice Presidency of Paraguay in addition to stepping aside from next year's presidential race, which he did Tuesday.

Arévalo, also of the Colorado Party but from the faction of former President Horacio Caartés, said that if Velázquez's resignation to the vice-presidency is not received by Friday this week, his impeachment should be promoted.

“If he does not present [his letter of resignation] by Friday, on Monday we would have to start raising the impeachment and we know that the impeachment is presented in the House of Deputies and from Monday some legislators will surely present it,” Arévalo said in a radio interview.

Cartés too has been included in the US list of most corrupt people.

“If, really, I was in his place and I did not make any mistake and the American ambassador is lying, I would not have resigned even from my candidacy,” Arévalo insisted. “By resigning, there is an acceptance, because he could say 'I do not recognize [the allegations] and I continue',” he went on.

According to rumors in Asunción, Velázquez will not resign until the US Embassy comes forward with the evidence it allegedly has against the Vice President.

Senator Lilian Samaniego, who heads the Foreign Affairs Committee, said the House would summon Foreign Minister Julio César Arriola to explain the scope of the statements made by the US Embassy in Paraguay.

After Velázquez resigned his pre-candidacy, President Mario Abdo Benítez proposed Minister of Public Works Arnoldo Wiens as his replacement before the Party Electoral Tribunal (TEP) of the National Republican Association (ANR), which is yet to rule on the matter. In the meantime, Wiens has resigned from his job on the Executive.