Archive for September 2008

Fernando Lugo meets with Bill Clinton, Joseph Stiglitz, George Soros.

(photo from ABC Digital)

In a meeting with Lugo on the 22nd, former U.S. President Bill Clinton pledged to sponsor (via the Clinton Foundation) a reforestation plan and an education initiative focused on Paraguay's indigenous community.

Lugo also dined with Joseph Stiglitz and George Soros at Soros' residence in Manhattan, during which they discussed the global economy and Paraguay's economic situation and need for development. Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate in economics, has previously expressed great interest in helping develop economic policy for Paraguay.

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Fernando Lugo to visit New York

Paraguay's president is taking his first official trip to the United States to attend the 63rd General Assembly of the UN. He arrives on Sunday morning and then has a slew of meetings with officials throughout the week.

A highlight that I'm trying to attend:

The Children of Latin America: A Future Without Poverty
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm

The Earth Institute at Columbia University and ALAS (America Latina en Accion Solidaria) present "The Children of Latin America: A Future Without Poverty - Creating Equity Through Early Childhood Development Programs," with world leaders from Argentina, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama and Paraguay. Join Jeffrey D. Sachs, Shakira, heads of state, experts and activists to discuss building a future without poverty for the children of Latin America.

REGISTER to view the LIVE WEBCAST http://www.earth.columbia.edu/children

VIDEO will be posted shortly after the event: http://www.earth.columbia.edu/children/

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Unanimous Support from LA Governments Amid Paraguay Coup Plot Rumors

Ambassadors from Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, México, Perú, Uruguay, and Venezuela yesterday voiced their unreserved support for Fernando Lugo as the democratically elected president of Paraguay after a meeting in Asunción. Meanwhile, Mercosur and the OAS also issued statements of support in light of the accusations of a coup plot that have arisen.

It remains to be seen what the fallout of this bit of drama will be. Is this a way to shore up international support? A way to demonstrate to the military that Lugo's government has a level of international and internal legitimacy to nip any thoughts of mutiny at the bud? A way for the military to test the resilience of Lugo? A fabrication?

A way to raise Paraguay's profile to increase its leverage as it bargains with Brazil over Itaipu?

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Coup d'état in Paraguay: Plans to Overthrow Lugo?

"Tenemos las puertas cerradas a los golpes de Estado. (We have closed the doors to coups.)"-- General Soto, who informed Lugo of the plot.

photo of Lugo from ABC Color

Two weeks after an historic inauguration, the military seeks to take over? Proving that the age of military juntas is not over, in sad news that doesn't seem too much of a surprise, there are rumors that leaders of the Colorado Party (out of power for the first time in 6 decades and in control of the military) have been meeting to discuss how to overthrow the current democratically elected government of Fernando Lugo.

Lugo, flanked by his ministers and the highest members of the military, made an announcement yesterday that there are "coup intentions among anti-democratic and retrograde sectors" in Paraguay, chiefly former President Nicanor Duarte and former presidential candidate (and coup-attempter) Lino Oviedo. There have been secret meetings at Oviedo's according to General Bernardino Soto Estigarribia, who served under Duarte and the one who apparently informed Lugo about these troubling developments.


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