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<td class="contentheading" width="100%"><b><big><big>Paraguay:
House of Cartes </big></big></b></td>
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<td valign="top"> <span class="small"> Written by Dawn Paley </span>
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<td class="createdate" valign="top"> Wednesday, 24 April 2013
16:44<br>
<small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/paraguay-archives-44/4257-paraguay-house-of-cartes">http://upsidedownworld.org/main/paraguay-archives-44/4257-paraguay-house-of-cartes</a></small><br>
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<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There’s
a new President in Latin America, and his name isn’t Nicolás Maduro.
The election that brought him to power was called by an illegitimate
regime following a </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">coup
d’etat</span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,
and his name isn’t Porfirio Lobo. He’s a wealthy, conservative
businessman, and his name isn’t Sebastián Piñera. His party ruled for
over 60 years, and his name isn’t Enrique Peña Nieto.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br>
</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Horacio
Cartes is his name, and he was elected President of Paraguay on April
21. His party, the conservative </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Colorado</span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
(ANR-PC) party, governed Paraguay for 61 years. During 35 of those
years, from 1954-1989, dictator Alfredo Stroessner was the party’s
leader.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><br>
</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cartes
represents rich new blood in the sagging veins of the old party.
According to Spanish newspaper </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">El
Pais, </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">even
though voting is mandatory in Paraguay, Cartes had never once voted
before running for president, and only recently joined the party. “What
Cartes brought to the party was the soundness of his immense fortune,
built on the tobacco industry, and his experience as a shareholder in
25 companies with 3,500 employees,” </span><a
href="http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2013/04/21/actualidad/1366577397_305948.html"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">reported</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
the Spanish daily on the day of his election.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br>
</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">School
of the Americas Watch, which sent a delegation to observe the
elections, </span><a
href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/Story-Uploads/InformeMisionSoaWatch_Paraguay.doc"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">expressed
concern</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
at Cartes’ sympathy for the dictatorship, his public disdain for queer
people, and his seemingly totalitarian aspirations.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><br>
</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cartes’
link to drug traffickers was reported in the </span><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/world/americas/horacio-cartes-wins-paraguays-presidential-election.html?_r=0"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">New
York Times</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,
and his implication in money laundering has been amply documented.
“Through the utilization of a [Drug Enforcement Administration] [Buenos
Aires Country Office] cooperating source and other DEA undercover
personnel, agents have infiltrated CARTES' money laundering enterprise,
an organization believed to launder large quantities of United States
currency generated through illegal means, including through the sale of
narcotics, from the [Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Paraguay, and
Brazil] to the United States,” according to a State Department cable </span><a
href="http://wikileaks.org/cable/2010/01/10BUENOSAIRES5.html"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">leaked</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
by Wikileaks. As if that wasn’t enough, a recent report by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists </span><a
href="http://www.icij.org/offshore/bank-owned-paraguays-leading-presidential-candidate-linked-tax-haven"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">revealed</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
that a bank owned by Cartes opened a secret locale in the offshore
tax-haven of the Cook Islands.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><br>
</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Various
acts of corruption were documented in the run-up to and on the day of
the election. Though the Organization for American States </span><a
href="http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-152/13"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">applauded</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
the elections as peaceful and transparent, their observers noted
incidents of vote-buying and coercion on election day, as well as the
use of questionable polls in the lead up to the election. The major </span><a
href="http://yingo.paraguay.com/nacionales/oviedo-matto-deja-el-congreso-93074"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">scandal</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
leading up to the elections was the government’s purchase of lands
linked to family members of the head of Paraguay’s national congress, a
member of the National Union of Ethical Citizens (UNACE), who promised
votes for the then-ruling Liberal party in return. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><br>
</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But
the most controversial thing about Cartes’ election may be that it came
after the parliamentary coup that took place in Paraguay on June 22,
2012, when former President Fernando Lugo was </span><a
href="http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/4535"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">removed
from the presidency</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
following the massacre of 11 peasants and six police officers in the
Curuguaty region. Five peasants are in prison and seven under house
arrest without trial for the massacre, which is widely believed to have
been carried out by professional hit men. The Paraguayan Human Rights
Coordinator </span><a
href="http://www.codehupy.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=17&Itemid=21"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">called</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
the massacre “the conflict which began the most important political
crisis in the last 20 years of Paraguayan history.”</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><br>
</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After
his removal on June 22, Lugo, a progressive former bishop and leader of
an independent party, was replaced by Federico Franco of the Liberal
Party. The US and Canada immediately recognized Franco’s government as
legitimate, while South American trade block MERCOSUR (Argentina,
Bolivia [membership in process], Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela) </span><a
href="http://www.mercosur.int/innovaportal/file/3862/1/dec_028-2012_es_reglam_suspension_paraguay.pdf"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(28, 69, 135); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">suspended</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
Paraguay following the coup.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><br>
</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“We’ve
just had elections that were called and convened by a </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">de
facto</span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
government, where the right wing carried out an illegal parliamentary
coup, dismissing a legitimate government,” said Abel Irala, a
researcher with the Paraguay Peace and Justice Service (Serpaj), in an
interview with </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Upside
Down World</span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
from Asunción, Paraguay. “That’s the root of these elections.”</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><br>
</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Following
the June coup, mobilizations took place throughout Paraguay, but
demonstrators quickly ran out of steam. “Street demonstrations and
protests got smaller and smaller because of electoral context,” said
Irala. “The Paraguayan left made a bet on playing by the rules of </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">elecciones
golpistas </span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(pro-coup
elections), the left put most of their energy into the electoral
process, which became a priority… social struggles and mobilizations
were abandoned.” </span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><br>
</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Irala
explained that the Paraguayan left has long had a close relationship
with progressive political parties, which in this case may have worked
to its demise. Regardless, campesino movements and land defense
struggles continue in an increasingly repressive environment.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><br>
</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Since
2004 we’ve been living through a period of the criminalization of
social struggles,” said Irala. “Every time there’s new elements, first
repression for repression’s sake, then there was another strategy which
consisted of the accusation of campesinos, in one year more than 1000
campesinos were accused... From there we’ve passed to a new tactic,
which is </span><a
href="http://www.kaosenlared.net/america-latina/item/48345-paraguay-criminalizaci%C3%B3n-de-la-protesta-social-se-extiende-con-asesinatos-selectivos.html?tmpl=component&print=1"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">selective
assassination</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.”
Since the June 2012 coup, three peasant leaders have been murdered, all
of them shot down by gunmen on motorcycles using assault rifles. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;"><span
style="font-size: medium;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Land
conflicts are likely to continue in Paraguay. Cartes has expressed his
support of a development model based on the extractive industries and
said he’d like his country to be more like the United States. In
addition to struggles against unfair land distribution fuelled by
industrial farming and large scale ranching, protests against Canadian
aluminium giant Alcan are </span><a
href="http://www.americaeconomia.com/negocios-industrias/paraguay-instalacion-de-la-empresa-rio-tinto-alcan-causa-intenso-debate"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">ongoing</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,
and oil discoveries in the Chaco region, </span><a
href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/11/27/paraguay-makes-big-oil-find/"
style="text-decoration: none;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">announced</span></a><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
in November, could provoke resistance from land based communities.</span></span></span></p>
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