MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan President concerned about Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba

Peña also recalled that Paraguay had endured “the longest dictatorship in South America”

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña Monday highlighted Latin America's peace and freedom but insisted that Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba should be matters of “enormous concern” for the international community.

“Our Inter-American system is suffering from what is happening in the sister nation of Venezuela, what is happening in Nicaragua, what is happening in Cuba,” stressed Peña from San José, Costa Rica. “It has to be a matter of great concern for the entire international community,” he added in a statement after meeting with host President Rodrigo Chaves.

Peña also recalled that Paraguay had endured “the longest dictatorship in South America” and therefore “knows the debts we have had with our people.”

“We cannot commit those injustices again. That is why we vindicate Paraguay's position in pursuit of a free, sovereign, and independent Latin America, but mainly respectful of human rights, freedoms, and the free exercise of politics,” he went on.

Peña and Chavez demanded in a joint statement the “unconditional respect for the popular will expressed at the polls, [in Venezuela] reiterating the importance of guaranteeing democracy, human rights, the right to demonstrate peacefully and the protection of life and personal integrity.”

After the July 28 elections, the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Caracas said without any evidence that President Nicolás Maduro had won but the opposition cried “fraud” and released over 80% of the voting minutes which would corroborate Edmundo González Urrutia's victory by a landslide. Hence, protests broke out with 25 people dead, almost 200 injured and more than 2,400 arrested.

Paraguay and Costa Rica are among the countries requesting documentation backing up the CNE's claim, which cited a “hacking” to their computer system. ”The countries that believe in democracy, that are not afraid of international competition (...) we have to work together”, said Chaves.