Al Jazeera.
New York, NY - Shortly after Fernando Lugo was elected president of Paraguay, I wrote an article
outlining many of the challenges facing the country's idealistic new
leader. A man who never previously held elected office, Lugo had been a
longtime political activist championing the needs of Paraguay's landless
peasants. Incensed by social injustice all around him, he spoke out
against the country's right-wing Colorado party. In a shot across the
bow of vested elites, Lugo proclaimed his support for land reform.
That kind of talk did not go over very well among Paraguay's right wing, which recently acted to remove the president in what is being seen as a possible coup d'etat. Following a skewed vote in the opposition-controlled Congress, Lugo was removed from office for allegedly encouraging land seizures. In an upset, Vice-President Federico Franco of the Liberal Party assumed the presidency.
Needless to say, however, the actual circumstances surrounding the land occupations are subject to some debate. According to authorities, peasant squatters opened fire on police as the security forces moved in to eject them. The peasants, however, claim that the police had in fact conducted a massacre.
That kind of talk did not go over very well among Paraguay's right wing, which recently acted to remove the president in what is being seen as a possible coup d'etat. Following a skewed vote in the opposition-controlled Congress, Lugo was removed from office for allegedly encouraging land seizures. In an upset, Vice-President Federico Franco of the Liberal Party assumed the presidency.
Needless to say, however, the actual circumstances surrounding the land occupations are subject to some debate. According to authorities, peasant squatters opened fire on police as the security forces moved in to eject them. The peasants, however, claim that the police had in fact conducted a massacre.
