|
Fernando Lugo, elected President of Paraguay in 2008, was impeached and removed from office by the Congress of Paraguay in June 2012. On 21 June the Chamber of Deputies voted 76 to 1 to impeach Lugo, and the Senate removed him from office the following day, by 39 votes to 4, resulting in Vice President Federico Franco, who had broken with Lugo, becoming President. Lugo contends he was denied due process because he did not have enough time to prepare a defense. A number of Latin American governments declared the proceeding was effectively a coup d'etat. Lugo himself formally accepted the impeachment, but called it a "parliamentary coup".〔 ==Background== The election of Lugo broke a 61-year period in office for the Colorado Party (ANR-PC). Lugo was aided by the presence of Federico Franco of the traditional opposition party Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) on the ticket as Vice Presidential candidate. Lugo's electoral coalition, Patriotic Alliance for Change (APC), was able to elect him as President (gaining 42.3% of the vote, against the second-placed Colorado candidate's 31.8%). However the Liberals and Colorados retained a majority of both houses of Congress. The Liberal Party, initially a member of the Alliance, withdrew in 2009, leaving the Alliance with just a handful of Congressional seats. A US Embassy cable from March 2009 (posted on Wikileaks) discussed the intention of Lino Oviedo and ex-President Nicanor Duarte to organise the impeachment of Lugo as a means to gain power. The cable is quoted as saying "Duarte's and Oviedo's shared goal: Find a 'cause celebre' to champion so as to change the current political equation, break the political deadlock in Congress, impeach Lugo and regain their own political relevance. Oviedo's dream scenario involves legally impeaching Lugo, even if on spurious grounds." The document goes on to suggest that Oviedo would be a leading candidate for the Vice Presidency, once Federico Franco had replaced Lugo as President, while Duarte might attain the Senate presidency. The document concludes "Farfetched? Perhaps. But not entirely unprecedented in Paraguayan politics."〔Wikileaks, US Embassy Asuncion cable dated 28 March 2009, (09ASUNCION189, PARAGUAYAN POLS PLOT PARLIAMENTARY PUTSCH ), accessed 30 June 2012〕 In mid-May 2012 around 150 landless farmers occupied the ''Campos Morombi'' belonging to ex-Colorado Senator Blas Riquelme.〔〔 The farmers said the land, in Curuguaty in the eastern Canindeyú Department, had been taken illegally during the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner.〔〔 On 15 June 2012 a police operation to evict landless farmers, enforcing a court order obtained by Riquelme,〔 led to the death of 6 police and 11 farmers.〔 ''Crónica'', 20 June 2012, (Lugo creó una comisión civil para investigar masacre en Curuguaty )〕 The eviction involved over 300 police evicting over 150 farmers; according to the BBC, "the eviction escalated into violence and the farmers opened fire on the police."〔''BBC'', 23 June 2012, (Paraguay President Fernando Lugo impeached by congress )〕 According to some sources, the eviction involved both the Special Operations Group (''Grupo Especial de Operaciones'', GEO) and police, and the first persons to die were the chief and deputy of the GEO operation, leading the GEO to employ helicopters, flamethrowers and tear gas against the farmers.〔Javier Manuel Rulli and Reto Sonderegger, ''CounterPunch'', 26 June 2012, (A Tragic Week in Paraguay )〕 The GEO chief and deputy had approached the farmers for dialogue without arms drawn, not expecting violence, and were both shot in the head.〔 ''Diario ABC Color'', 15 June 2012, (Dantesco enfrentamiento en colonia de Curuguaty )〕 Local witnesses said the farmers had been infiltrated by an unknown group of men using heavy weapons not employed by the occupying farmers, and that these had been the shooters.〔 Some suspected the involvement of the Paraguayan People’s Army.〔 On 16 June Lugo accepted the resignation of his interior minister Carlos Filizzola and of National Police chief General Paulino Rojas.〔EFE, ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 17 June 2012, (Minister dumped after Paraguay strife )〕 On 16 June former National General Counsel Rubén Candia Amarilla, a controversial figure from the Colorado Party,〔()〕 took over the Ministry of Interior.〔 ''La Nación'', 16 June 2012, (Rubén Candia Amarilla es el nuevo ministro del Interior )〕 Immediately, the PLRA (Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico, or Authentic Radical Liberal party) requested the dismissal of Candia Amarilla and the new National Police chief Arnaldo Sanabria, who led the police operation that ended in the deaths of the farmers in Curuguaty.〔()〕 On 19 June "Emilio Camacho, auditor of the Paraguayan Land Institute (INDERT), confirmed that Blas Riquelme did not have the title to the 2,000 hectares."〔 On 20 June Lugo announced a special commission to investigate the incident.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Impeachment of Fernando Lugo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|