Paraguay faces fallout after president's ouster

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- The governments of South America have united to punish Paraguay for  removing President Fernando Lugo on Friday, suspending the country’s membership in regional organizations for what some leaders are calling a coup.

When news spread that the Paraguayan Senate had voted to oust the left-leaning former Catholic bishop, widespread condemnation came quickly from leaders in a region with bad memories of dictatorships and democratic instability. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said her government would not recognize the new government formed by Federico Franco, who served as Lugo’s vice president before turning against him.

“Argentina will not validate the coup d’etat in Paraguay,” Kirchner said. “This is about more than Lugo.... This is a definitive attack on institutions and a replay of situations we had thought were totally forgotten.”

For all of Latin America’s varied ideological stripes, the negative response was surprisingly unanimous. Left-wing governments in Venezuela and Ecuador announced they’d cut off shipments of oil. Chile’s conservative government pulled its ambassador from the country. Colombia’s president, Miguel Santos, issued a statement saying there may have been an “abuse” of the proceedings. And regional powerhouse Brazil has put forward the possibility of further sanctions against Asuncion.

U.S. State Department representative Victoria Nuland said on Monday that Washington is “quite concerned about the speed of the process used for this impeachment in Paraguay."

Paraguay has been suspended from both Unasur, or the Union of South American Nations, and Mercosur, the regional trading bloc, until new elections take place.

Mercosur will hold an emergency meeting this week in Argentina to decide what action to take against the poor, land-locked nation. Lugo continues to consider himself the legitimate president of Paraguay and said he will attend the summit to explain the situation. It’s unclear what effect the actions will have on the new government in Paraguay, which has denounced its dismissal from the organizations.

It’s also unclear why the Paraguayan Senate voted now to oust Lugo, who would have been replaced in nine months during an election in which he could not participate.  The Senate's  impeachment proceedings consisted of broad charges of mismanaging the country after a land dispute turned deadly. It was conducted in a matter of hours, and Lugo was not allowed to prepare his own defense. The vote was nearly unanimous.

The government of Mexico, which is not a member of the South American organizations, released a statement affirming that “even if the political judgment took place according to the procedures established in the Paraguayan Constitution, Mexico considers that the proceedings did not give ex-President Lugo the time and space needed for the defense he had a right to.”

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Photo: Ousted Paraguay President Fernando Lugo gives one of his bodyguards a traditional drink before a meeting  in Asuncion, Paraguay. Credit: Cesar Olmedo / Associated Press

 

 

 

 



Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez formalizes his reelection bid

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez registered Monday with the National Electoral Commission to face challenger Henrique Capriles in the October election.

Chavez, who recently completed a round of radiation therapy for a recurrence of his pelvic cancer, addressed thousands of red-shirted supporters afterward  in a downtown plaza, promising to win the contest "by knockout."

"What's at stake is not just what we've accomplished but what we will accomplish in the future,"  said the 57-year-old socialist party leader, who is seeking another six-year term to "deepen" his socialist transformation of Venezuela's government. "We will defeat the squalid ones, the bourgeoisie."

Chavez, a former military officer first elected in 1998, spoke with a firm voice when he told the crowd his radiation treatment was a success. He said his goal was to tally 10 million of the election's 18 million potential votes

Opposition leader Capriles on Sunday marched through the capital with hundreds of thousands of supporters as he registered his candidacy and formally launched his bid to win the Oct. 7 election.

"We're going to choose not between two men, but  between two life options, between a sluggish and violent present or progress for all," Capriles said.

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Chavez opponent slams court decisions as political tricks

In a move that critics believe will help Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the ballot box, the nation's top court changed the leadership of two political parties this week. The Supreme Court decisions came just before a Monday deadline for political parties to decide which candidates they’ll back for president.

Both political parties once backed Chavez but have turned away with time, the Associated Press reported, making the question of who leads them important. Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles slammed the court rulings (all links in Spanish) as politically tainted.

“Only the desperate resort to legal tricks!” Capriles declared Thursday on Twitter after the second decision was announced.

Chavez has repeatedly dismissed accusations of meddling in the courts in the past. The court decisions are the latest twist in a race splotched with accusations of rigged polls and shadowed by questions about the president's health.

The Patria Para Todos party will now be led by Rafael Uzcategui, who told Venezuelan media after the decision that the party would not back Capriles. The court voided earlier elections within the political party in its decision Wednesday.

The Podemos party will be led by Didalco Bolivar, a former governor who has expressed support for Chavez after an earlier split. The court said Thursday it needed to review an earlier decision challenged by Bolivar, putting him in charge while it undertook its review.

Ismael Garcia, an established leader of Podemos, rejected the decision as a purely political move. In a fiery speech directed to Chavez, Garcia argued, “You’re the one who is afraid, because you know that you’re going to lose the election,” the Venezuelan daily El Nacional reported.

Chavez will face Capriles at the polls in October, hoping to extend his 13 years in power. His focus on the poor has won Chavez popularity, but Capriles argues that the outspoken president has failed to stem crime and fueled divisions with his aggressive rhetoric.

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Photo: Opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles gestures as he delivers a speech during a ceremony in Caracas, Venezuela, on Wednesday. Credit: Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press

Energy deals boost Colombia-Venezuela ties despite border violence

BOGOTA, Colombia, and CARACAS, Venezuela -- Notwithstanding a border attack this week by leftist rebels hiding in Venezuela that left 12 Colombian soldiers dead, relations between the neighboring nations have improved steadily in recent months, as evidenced by energy deals including a proposed $8-billion pipeline as well as a crackdown on gasoline smuggling.

Fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, apparently fled back to Venezuela after the bloody ambush  Monday, prompting a promise from President Hugo Chavez to send three army battalions to the Perija Mountains area to drive the rebels from their sparsely populated refuge.

“We are active on the border ... and we will patrol by air and land,” Chavez said during a televised meeting of ministers, his first public appearance since returning from medical treatment in Cuba two weeks ago. “We are not going to permit this and as we’ve said a million times, all we want is peace for Colombia.”

Chavez’s declaration came as Colombian Mining and Energy Minister Mauricio Cardenas said that Venezuela had agreed to expand exports of discount gasoline to several Colombian border states. The aim is to frustrate a cross-border gas smuggling racket controlled by mafias and terrorist groups, Cardenas said.

Colombian army officials say 12 soldiers killed by rebels

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombian army officials said Monday that 12 soldiers were killed in an ambush by leftist rebels who, according to one commander, “presumably” fled into Venezuelan territory afterward.

The soldiers were attacked Monday near Maicao, a border city in northern Guajira state, by 80 to 90 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The soldiers were there to protect a group of civilian workers repairing an electric power line tower that the rebels had previously destroyed.

According to the army, fighting occurred less than a quarter-mile from the Colombia-Venezuela border. In addition to those killed, four soldiers were wounded. No rebels were reported killed.

“It was a fierce fight. A numerous group [of rebels] came presumably from Venezuela and presumably fled back into Venezuela” after the firefight, Army Gen. Sergio Mantilla told reporters.

The attack prompted a telephone call from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to extend condolences for those killed, which included an  officer and a sergeant. Although he said the entry of foreign armed forces into Venezuela is prohibited, he acknowledged that the rebels may have entered the country.

“Some units of the guerrilla group may have crossed Venezuelan territory. We are reinforcing patrols and reconnaissance in the zone,” Chavez told a TV audience. “We don’t want to get involved in a conflict that isn’t ours.”

In an address to the nation Monday night, Santos said Chavez had promised to send some of his forces to the area to look for the rebels.

"This is a setback. It's not the first and it won't be the last," Santos said, referring to the four-decades-long fight with the rebel group.

Relations between Colombia and Venezuela have improved since March 2008, when a Colombian commando group briefly invaded northern Ecuador to kill a top FARC commander, prompting Chavez to briefly call up troops and tanks to Venezuela's border zone with Colombia.

But Colombian government officials have expressed their impatience for Chavez to follow through on promises to better patrol the frontier so the FARC rebels cannot seek haven in Venezuela.

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Photo: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos at a news conference in Bogota in April. Credit: Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images  

Venezuela's Chavez breaks silence with lengthy phone call

REPORTING FROM CARACAS, VENEZUELA, AND BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- After 10 days out of sight and with rumors swirling that he had died while undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a half-hour telephone call to a state-run television  station, claiming reports of his demise were part of a “dirty war.”

“These are desperate rumors,” Chavez said. “I’m coming out fine from all the exams.”

Chavez announced in February that he had a recurrence of the cancer diagnosed last June, which he had previously declared to be in remission. He said Monday that his treatments were going well, and that he would return to Venezuela this weekend, possibly as early as Thursday.

The 57-year-old leader has undergone four rounds of chemotherapy and three surgeries to treat tumors in his pelvic area. He has never said precisely what kind of cancer he has, nor its exact location.

Chavez also dismissed the electoral prospects of Henrique Capriles, the opposition candidate he will face in October. He said even polls conducted by canvassers not associated with the government are giving him a 20-point lead over Capriles.

He referred to Capriles as “majunche,” a term meaning someone of poor quality and no consequence. Capriles in recent days has accused Chavez of governing by Twitter, a reference to Chavez’s medical absences and the social medium the president uses frequently.

Chavez also took the opportunity to comment on the flight this month of a former judge, Eladio Aponte, to Costa Rica and then on to the United States in a U.S. government airplane. Aponte gave an interview to a U.S. Spanish-language television station saying that Chavez government officials had personally pressured him to release or go easy on suspected drug traffickers.

“This person is a delinquent,” Chavez said, denying Aponte’s charges that he had personally called the judge by adding that “eagles don’t hunt flies.”

The Venezuelan government had accused Aponte of complicity with suspected drug trafficker Walid Makled. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Aponte had “sold his soul” to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

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--Special correspondents Mery Mogollon in Caracas and Chris Kraul in Bogota

Photo: A picture provided by Venezuela's presidency shows President Hugo Chavez, center, and his daughter Rosa Virginia being welcomed by Cuban Vice President Jose Ramon Machado at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana on April 15. Credit: European Pressphoto Agency

Costa Rican trade attache kidnapped in Venezuela

Costa Rica's trade attache to Venezuela was kidnapped outside his home near Caracas, and his captors demanded ransom for his release, the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry disclosed Monday.

The abduction of Guillermo Cholele as he arrived at his home east of Caracas on Sunday night was at least the third kidnapping of a diplomat in recent months in the violence-plagued Venezuelan capital. Security forces have seen their authority eroded as ailing President Hugo Chavez often has been abroad for medical treatment in Cuba.

Costa Rican Ambassador Nazareth Avendano told a news conference that Cholele was driven away in his embassy vehicle by an unknown number of captors.

A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry in San Jose, the capital, said that the kidnappers had been in contact with the Costa Rican government and that a ransom demand was received but did not specify the sum.

In January, Mexican Ambassador Carlos Pujalte and his wife were kidnapped, and in November Chile's consul in Caracas was shot and wounded in an abduction. The captives were released within hours in both prior incidents.

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Photo: Nazareth Avendano, Costa Rica's ambassador to Venezuela, speaks with the media at her office in Caracas, Venezuela, on Monday about the kidnapping of trade attache Guillermo Cholele. Credit: Fernando Llano / Associated Press

Venezuela's Chavez has surgery in Cuba; no word on cancer spread

REPORTING FROM CARACAS, VENEZUELA, AND LOS ANGELES -- A statement issued by the Venezuelan government Tuesday said President Hugo Chavez had undergone surgery in Cuba with "a satisfactory result," but it left several questions unanswered, including whether his cancer had spread.

The statement said Chavez would need several days to recover and that results of tests from the surgery would be made public. It did not specify when.  

Chavez announced this month that tests had shown evidence of a lesion close to where a tumor was removed by Cuban doctors in June. He has never given the precise location nor the type of original tumor.

Weeks earlier, he had declared himself free of cancer.

Jewish groups urge Chavez to denounce 'anti-Semitic' attack

Jewish human rights organizations urged Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday to denounce an “anti-Semitic” attack on his political opponent Henrique Capriles.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center decried a column published Monday on the Venezuelan National Radio website that linked presidential candidate Capriles to “international Zionism," calling it "the ideology of terror."

The column by Adal Hernandez noted that Capriles descends from Sephardic and Eastern European Jews before arguing that he covertly represents Zionism, which it said had killed millions of Palestinians and controlled “almost 80% of the world economy.”

The New York-based Anti-Defamation League called it “the classic anti-Semitic stereotype of a global Jewish cabal.” Wiesenthal Center officials wrote Chavez arguing that “the use of anti-Semitism as a political tool impugns democracy” and insisting that he condemn the radio station over the article.

“Chavez carries the ultimate responsibility for his own media outlets and can personally stop their hate mongering,” said the international relations director of the Wiesenthal Center, Shimon Samuels.

Capriles, a Catholic with Jewish lineage, faced similar attacks during his earlier campaign to become governor of Miranda state, the ADL wrote.

“This early appearance of government-sanctioned anti-Semitism is a deeply troubling sign of the depths that President Chavez is willing to go to retain his oppressive power,” ADL national director Abraham H. Foxman said in a  statement.

The Venezuelan information minister did not immediately respond to requests for comment, the Associated Press reported. Chavez has denied past allegations of tolerating anti-Semitism.

Sharp elbows are already out in the campaign between Chavez, who has led Venezuela for 13 years, and his challenger Capriles, who argues that Venezuelans are tired of Chavez's divisiveness. 

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Photo: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez arrives at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday. Credit: Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press

Why Argentina, Britain and Sean Penn care about the Falklands

The Falkland Islands are under British control and have been since 1833, but Argentina says it inherited the South Atlantic archipelago from the Spanish crown. The two countries have lost lives over the small territory: In 1982, Britain drove off Argentine troops in a war that killed more than 900 people.

The fury over the Falklands can seem strange to outsiders, and even to Argentines and Britons. Argentine writer Jose Luis Borges once described the Falklands conflict as “a fight between two bald men over a comb.”

Why are the Falklands so important to these two countries?

To Argentina, having a British territory so close to home is seen as a vestige of colonialism. Argentines call the islands the Malvinas and bemoan them as “the lost little sisters” of Argentina. The quest to reclaim the islands has repeatedly been raised as an anti-imperialist cause. President Cristina Kirchner has slammed Britain as "a crude colonial power in decline."

Many Latin American leaders have sided with Argentina. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declared, "Give the Malvinas back to the Argentine people." Actor Sean Penn recently stepped into the fray, saying the world would not tolerate  “any ludicrous and archaic commitment to colonialist ideology.”

But British leaders say it’s become a question of self-determination. Falklanders overwhelmingly want to stick with Britain, which has given it autonomy and military protection. They tend to be leery of Argentina, fearing it would have a heavier hand. And though the islands are geographically much closer to Argentina than Britain, their inhabitants speak English and identify with Britain.

“We’ve got 3,000 people of British descent who’ve been living quiet lives as shopkeepers and fishermen for the last 175 years,” said Robert O’Brien, a Los Angeles attorney who writes about Falkland affairs. “Just because there’s a bigger neighbor next door doesn’t mean they can take over.”

Besides the emotional claims on both sides, there is also an economic reason that both countries would want to control the Falklands: Britain is now planning oil and gas exploration around the islands.

“For Argentina, it’s a red-hot issue. It’s one thing for islanders to make money from squid fishing. It’s quite another to be drilling into the seabed and become the next Kuwait,” said Klaus Dodds, a professor of geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Yet the dispute was raging long before oil came into the conversation. Some experts believe that the international argument is now so wrapped up in nationalist pride that it isn’t rational anymore.

“That war is like some toxic waste that will keep on surfacing until the issue is solved,” said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. “A poll would show that the issue isn’t all that important. The problem is, it’s endlessly revivable.”

Why is the dispute over the Falklands heating up again now?

The 30th anniversary of the Falklands War is this spring. That puts the subject of Argentine defeat in the conflict squarely back in the spotlight.

In addition, Britain recently announced that it would send a destroyer to do routine military exercises near the Falklands, with Prince William taking part. Argentine Defense Minister Arturo Puricelli called it “an unnecessary ostentation of firepower.” Argentina has complained to the United Nations over British "militarization" of the islands, with Kirchner calling it "a grave risk for international safety."

Falklanders counter that Kirchner has stepped up the conflict by trying to put economic pressure on the islands. Argentina has convinced several South American countries to not let ships with Falkland flags dock at their ports, for instance.

Michael Summers, a member of the Falklands Island Assembly, complained that Argentina also pressures shipping companies not to work with them. Argentina even tried to start a “squid war” in January, telling fishermen to catch squid before they reached the islands.

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Photo: Demonstrators burn a British flag outside the British Embassy in Buenos Aires during protests this month against the arrival of Prince William to the Falkland Islands for a six-week military deployment. Credit: Daniel Feldman / European Pressphoto Agency