Threatened with isolation by rest of Latin America, new president of Paraguay makes conciliatory speech

The new president of Paraguay, Federico Franco, in a news conference on Friday night (June 22), just a few hours after taking office following the impeachment of Fernando Lugo, declared that he wants good relations with neighbors and will seek to meet the expectations of his countrymen. Most Latin American nations have expressed reservations about the quickie impeachment process that put him in office. The whole thing has the smell of political maneuvering, according to South American presidents.

“For Mercosur partners, I want to say that I understand the situation. We must make an effort to normalize,” said the new president, Federico Franco. “It is important for us to have good relations with our neighbors.” Franco did not reveal whether or not he intends to attend the Mercosur summit scheduled for next week in Mendoza, Argentina. But he did mention the need to put his own house in order above all as he announced the names of three ministers: Interior, Foreign Relations and National Police.

Franco did emphasize, at least three times in answers to questions, that the removal of Lugo by the Senate followed the Paraguayan constitution. A number of nations in the Union of South American Nations (Unisur) raised doubts about whether or not the process was legitimate and questioned the speed of the impeachment. Franco’s tone was conciliatory and not combative. He called on the media to do its part, saying it had a fundamental role to play and could help to calm people.

However, the new president was emphatic about his intentions to combat the guerrilla movement, EPP (“Exercito do Povo Paraguaio”), saying he considered them outside the law. “There will be zero tolerance with those who are outlaws,” he declared.

Finally, Franco mentioned a very delicate issue in Paraguayan politics at the moment and the main reason Lugo was removed: the question of land reform. He said it is a priority in his administration and that steps would be taken to deal with conflicts over land ownership as part of a greater effort to give the country an industrial policy and better quality of life in the countryside. “We need schools, health care, adequate living conditions so that people will stay in rural areas,” he said.